Verizon could bring 4G service to rural America

Faster wireless broadband service could be on its way to rural America, as Verizon Wireless is in talks with a number of rural telephone carriers to license its wireless spectrum. Verizon Chief Executive Lowell McAdam "said the move—unusual because carriers typically guard spectrum, which is expensive and scarce—will help it more quickly expand the reach of its new fourth-generation network, which it plans to launch in 25 to 30 cities by the end of the year," Niraj Sheth of The Wall Street Journal reports. "The move could also pay political dividends at a time when U.S. regulators are proposing to bring broadband networks under some of the same regulations that tightly govern telephone lines."

"Under the proposed arrangements, Verizon would license spectrum for a small fee to local carriers, which would sell the service," Sheth writes. "Either Verizon or the carrier could handle the job of installing the equipment. Verizon is also striking data roaming agreements with the rural carriers to let their customers use the rest of Verizon's network when they're traveling."

"This is not something we're looking to make a lot of money from," McAdam told Sheth, citing the small size of the rural carriers. Verizon's 4G network runs on Long Term Evolution technology. "All rural carriers need to figure out how they're going to get into LTE, period," Pat Riordan, CEO of Cellcom, a 250,000-customer carrier based in Green Bay, Wis., that has been in talks with Verizon but has yet to sign a deal, told Sheth. A Federal Communications Commission spokeswoman told Sheth the commission looks "look forward to reviewing the details of Verizon's proposal." (Read more)