When a carrier continues to add more and more users and devices to their network, it takes its toll on the network as well as the speed of the network. That’s something that all four carriers are dealing with right now. Verizon added another million devices to their network this past quarter, which means they need more bandwidth. What the carrier is doing is beginning to deploy 4×4 MIMO technology. MIMO stands for Multiple Input and Multiple Output. Verizon stated that this should help to enhance their LTE network, both in improvement as well as in coverage.
That’s not all, though, Verizon is also deploying carrier aggregation technology, in their 20x20MHz spectrum. They also expect that the effort will allow them to have spectrum channels that are wider than 20x20MHz configuration, down the road. The reason for this is it would allow Verizon to offer even faster peak theoretical wireless download speeds.
All this comes from Mike Haberman, who is Verizon’s VP of Network Support. He was speaking this week at Wells Fargo Telecom Symposium. Jennifer Fritzsche, who is an analyst at Wells Fargo made a short report on Haberman’s comments. This report stated that Verizon is working to improve their LTE network with a few different technologies, as well as strategies. Which include carrier aggregation, MIMO and deploying new small cells. Macro cell sites and distributed antenna systems, also make that short list.
With Verizon using 4×4 MIMO, the company can easily create a diversity gain would likely lead to a higher uplink speed and performance. With Carrier aggregation, Verizon will be able to use merge disparate spectrum bands, which would create a wider spectrum channel. With the end result being faster download speeds for their customers.
Despite Verizon working with new technologies to improve their LTE network and improve coverage, analysts still believe that they will run out of spectrum in the next two to three years. That is even with them refarming their existing 2G and 3G spectrum. This is also due to the increasing need of data by its users. Verizon is also slated to announce a new mobile video service this year, which they will obviously, encourage their users to use on their network. And will put even more stress on the network’s bandwidth.