new york – Verizon recently made efforts to provide more features to customers, upgrade technology within its network, pave the way for personalized customer experiences, and provide a platform for businesses and developers to drive innovation. , undertook a major, multi-year transformation of its network architecture. This massive effort is far from over, but the results are undeniable as customers use the network in more places, in more ways, and have a better experience on the Verizon network.
Joe Russo added, It’s been a very dynamic and exciting few years.” , Vice President and CEO of Global Networks and Technology. “These changes mean more people can do more things, more reliably, in more places, and that’s what we strive for as a company.”
Large-scale, multi-year network transformation
Major upgrades to Verizon’s network over the past few years include:
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Deploying 5G services to more than 230 million people, accelerating the deployment of C-band spectrum and strategically using premium mmWave spectrum to serve customers in areas with high 5G usage.
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5G Fixed Wireless Access Expands internet availability to cover more than 40 million households.
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We have accelerated our fiber buildout plans, deploying nearly 57,000 fiber miles since 2020 and now connect more than 51% of our cellular sites with our own fiber.
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Upgraded 76% of professional sports venues to 5G Ultra Wideband service, providing exponentially higher capacity to expand coverage of key gathering and event spaces and better support large-scale data traffic .
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Rearchitect the core of your network to work in a cloud-native environment and deploy advanced technologies like virtualization, automation, and orchestration across your network. The introduction of virtualization (across the core and over 15,000 cell sites), rebuilding to a Kubernetes-based cloud-native platform, and extensive automation and orchestration integration were largely invisible to customers. changes are bringing about major changes in the world. Not only will Verizon be able to more quickly make changes that benefit customers, such as introducing new security measures, improving handoffs between cell sites, improving latency, and reducing call drops, but also taking its network offline. These enhancements can be implemented without any downtime, allowing customers to benefit from zero downtime.
These significant changes to our network dramatically increase capacity and performance, create a scalable platform to manage usage growth, improve network efficiency, and improve security and reliability for our customers. and created a platform for the exponential growth the company is currently seeing.
Customer experiences and habits have changed
Recent network changes have resulted in significant increases in speed and capacity, forcing customers to use more data and do more in more places than ever before. One year after the launch of 5G, about 24% of Verizon customers were using his 5G devices. Currently, more than 68% of its customers own 5G-enabled mobile phones, and the amount of data they use is increasing exponentially. His 5G traffic, which uses the C-band spectrum, now accounts for more than 38% of the total data on the network, up from more than 14% a year ago. With the increase in 5G data usage, the amount of data on 4G networks has also decreased correlatively, compared to a year ago when nearly 81% of data traffic was running on his 4G service. Customers are currently using just over 56%. This change will improve the experience for all customers. 5G customers will be able to experience the speed and higher capacity of his 5G, while 4G customers will see improved performance as significantly more traffic will be shifted to his 5G network, freeing up capacity on his 4G network. can be seen.
Not only are customers using the network more, but they are also using the network differently. Home Internet, business Internet, and private networks have changed how, when, and where customers access networks. Verizon sees a steady pace of net home internet additions of approximately 400,000 per quarter, with the majority coming from fixed wireless access (FWA). As of August, over 2.5 million consumer and business customers are using Verizon’s FWA service, with each customer using just over 300 GB of data per month. Private networks are gaining traction as well, with solutions like his Cleveland Clinic and his NFL Coach-to-Coach coming online at all 30 of his NFL stadiums.
Customers are using more data and changing the way they use it, and major network upgrades mean they’re getting a significantly better experience than ever before. Ookla shows that median 5G download speeds have increased by 98.45% since January 2021*, and RootMetrics shows that download speeds have increased by over 176% since H2 2021 in the top 125 metros tested. has been shown to be more effective, allowing customers to work faster. **After network testing, RootMetrics concluded that Verizon’s network was undefeated in 96.8% (121 of 125 markets) of Metro Drive tests conducted in the first half of 2023. ***
*Based on Verizon analysis of Ookla® Speedtest Intelligence® data for median 5G download speeds in the United States, Q1 2021 and Q2 2023. Ookla trademarks are used under license and reproduced with permission.
** Based on analysis of the top 125 metro markets in the RootMetrics® US State of 5G Report by Verizon: 2H 2021 and 1H 2023. Tested using the best smartphones on the market on three national mobile networks across all available network types. Your experience may vary. The RootMetrics Awards are not an endorsement of Verizon.
***Rankings are based on RootMetrics® Metropolitan RootScore® reports for 125 metropolitan areas. H1 2023: Tested on the best commercially available smartphones on three mobile networks across all available network types. Your experience may vary. The RootMetrics Award is not an endorsement of Verizon.
