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Around half of Verizon's data traffic is on LTE, says CEO

Nearly half of all Verizon's wireless data traffic is down to its LTE customers, the cellular giant's chief executive tells reporters at CES 2013.
Written by Zack Whittaker, Contributor

Verizon chief executive Lowell McAdam told attendees at this year's CES 2013 that after two years following the launch of the company's 4G LTE service, nearly half of the company's data traffic flows through the next-generation mobile broadband service.

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Nearly 50 percent of all Verizon's traffic flows through the 4G LTE service, a figure that is significantly higher than the 35 percent mark in October, just four months ago, thanks to the release of the 4G LTE enabled iPhone a month earlier.

The near-half-way mark shows that U.S. consumers and businesses are becoming increasingly reliant on faster wireless speeds. 

According to McAdam, 23 percent of Verizon's customer base use LTE phones at the end of the fourth quarter -- including the lucrative December holiday period -- up from 16 percent in the third quarter. This means that less than half (some LTE phone owners will not have access to LTE speeds in their area) are accounting for nearly half of the company's cellular data traffic. 

Verizon's LTE coverage now blankets 89 percent of the U.S. with 4G coverage. The company's goal is to sunset its 2G and 3G services by 2021 -- just eight years away -- but considering how fast the LTE rollout is going and the rates in which users are jumping on the network, it's clear to see that the goal is far from unrealistic.

(via FierceWireless)

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