Verizon Announces West Virgnia LTE Launch PlansVerizon Announces West Virgnia LTE Launch Plans

Verizon Wireless plans to hold a press conference on Wednesday, October 27, to announce the specific details about the launch of its first LTE markets in West Virginia. The announcements will be made by Senator Jay Rockefeller, Governor Joe Manchin and Tony Melone, senior vice president and chief technology officer for Verizon Wireless.

Verizon Wireless didn't provide much information beyond that it will launch in 10 cities, starting with Charleston. Verizon didn't say when the LTE network would actually go live, nor what types of devices or services would be available at launch. The implication is that West Virginia will have one of the first actual LTE network from Verizon, though the company fell short of confirming that.

Earlier this month, Verizon Wireless announced plans to launch LTE in 38 metropolitan markets by the end of 2010, as well as 60 commercial airports. It plans to cover 110 million points of presence (POPS) by the end of 2010. Verizon will expand its LTE coverage aggressively throughout 2011 and 2012.

The company said in a statement this morning, "While Verizon Wireless' 4G LTE network promises much more than speed, the first application gives employees the ability to work at significantly faster speeds and improved latency, increasing productivity and the opportunity to get work done where their business takes them."

As for speeds, Verizon said that users can expect to see download speeds between 5 and 12Mbps and upload speeds between 2 and 5Mbps. These are "real-world" speeds, meaning they aren't theoretical numbers, they are what users will actually get. The network will be operated on the 700MHz spectrum band, which Verizon Wireless won from the FCC in an auction held several years ago.

AT&T will launch its own LTE network in mid-2011, and plans to cover between 70 and 75 million POPs.

MetroPCS has already launched LTE in Las Vegas, Dallas-Fort Worth, and Detroit.

The full list of Verizon cities includes:

Akron, Ohio; Athens, Georgia; Atlanta, Georgia; Baltimore, Maryland; Boston, Massachusetts; Charlotte, North Carolina; Chicago, Illinois; Cincinnati, Ohio; Cleveland, Ohio; Columbus, Ohio; Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, Dallas, Texas; Denver, Colorado; Fort Lauderdale, Florida; Houston, Texas; Jacksonville, Florida; Las Vegas, Nevada; Los Angeles, California; Miami, Florida; Minneapolis/Saint Paul, Minnesota; Nashville, Tennessee; New Orleans, Louisiana; New York, New York; Oakland, California; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; Orlando, Florida; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Phoenix, Arizona; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Rochester, New York; San Antonio, Texas; San Diego, California; San Francisco, California; San Jose, California; Seattle/Tacoma, Washington; St. Louis, Missouri; Tampa, Florida; Washington, D.C.; West Lafayette, Indiana; West Palm Beach, Florida.