Verizon Wireless claims
that it will get 4G wireless broadband to everywhere in the US.
Tony
Melone, senior vice president and chief technology officer for Verizon
Wireless, said during an interview at the CTIA Wireless 2009 tradeshow that
the new 4G network that the company is building will blanket the entire
continental United States, including the far corners of rural America.
He
said that Verizon has licenses to cover the whole of the former English
colony and planned to roll out LTE throughout the entire country. This
includes places that it can't offer its normal CDMA mobile phone
service.
Verizon has so far avoided connecting rural areas because it has
been too expensive to build the infrastructure. The federal government
has provided some $1.2 billion in loans aimed at helping operators in the
private sector build broadband networks in remote areas, the money hasn't
been stretched to reach every community.
Only about 38 per cent of rural
American households have access to high-speed Internet connections compared
to 57 per cent of those in the city and 60 per cent of people living in
suburbs.
More
here.