Verizon is catching up in the 5G wars, with the company now covering more than 175 million people with its fastest 5G Ultra Wideband.
5G comes in three flavors: long-range but slower low-band, well-balanced mid-band spectrum, and high-band mmWave that offers the fastest speeds but poor range. Verizon initially bet big on mmWave before spending billions on mid-band C-band spectrum. Verizon refers to its C-band and mmWave collectively as 5G Ultra Wideband.
The company’s rollout of its Ultra Wideband is moving faster than expected, with Verizon now covering more than 175 million people. The company was originally hoping to reach that goal by the end of 2022, putting it a month ahead of schedule.
“Our customers don’t stand still and neither does our network. Today, more than one out of every two Americans now have access to 5G Ultra Wideband. We know our customers rely on our service every day and we work for them – continuously enhancing, expanding and improving our wireless network,” said Hans Vestberg, Chairman and CEO of Verizon. “And as proud as I am to have crossed this milestone, I am equally proud of the way we are building our network – with the most advanced technologies, industry leading security, a robust fiber underpinning and a robust and varied spectrum portfolio. We are building this right. We are building this as a platform for innovation for years to come.”
Verizon has the dubious distinction of being the only one of the top three wireless carriers to be losing customers.
Verizon announced its third-quarter results, with the company reporting a net loss of 189,000 postpaid phone subscribers. The company said it was “due to elevated churn partially as a result of recent pricing actions”
According to CNET, Verizon posted similar subscriber losses in the second quarter, to the tune of 215,000. Those loses were similarly the result of increased prices, from raising the price of legacy plans to increasing administrative fees.
The losses put Verizon in an interesting position, as it appears to be the only one of the top three carriers losing subscribers. AT&T gained 708,000 subscribers during this most recent quarter and T-Mobile has similarly continued its growth streak unabated.
Verizon CEO Hans Vestberg painted the subscriber losses as part of Verizon’s attempt to increase profits and operational performance.
“We took a number of actions in the third quarter that helped drive improved operational and financial performance, but we know there’s still more work to be done,” said Vestberg. “The pricing actions we took earlier this year, as well as our new cost savings program, show that we are being deliberate and strategic in our decisions to strengthen our business. At the same time, we are focused on executing our 5G strategy, as we are covering every major market and accelerating our C-Band network build. We are on track to reach 200 million POPs within first-quarter 2023.”
Verizon has announced it plans to provide 175 million people with 5G Ultra Wideband by the end of 2022, much sooner than originally expected.
5G Ultra Wideband is the umbrella term Verizon uses to refer to its mmWave and C-band flavors of 5G, comprised of high-band and mid-band spectrum respectively. The company has invested billions of dollars purchasing C-band spectrum, widely considered the sweet spot for speed and range, to compliment its fastest mmWave spectrum, which has much shorter range.
The investments have paid off, with the company saying it will reach 175 million people by the end of 2022 instead of in 2023, as it originally projected.
“Through our deliberate strategy of investment and divestment we have already significantly increased the size of our addressable market which, over the next 5 years, should grow an additional $120B. We chose a strategy where we not only participate in a much larger market but also a market where we are in the leading position in our paths to growth,” said Hans Vestberg, Verizon Chairman and CEO. “Verizon’s transformative technology and Network-as-a-Service platform is what enables the 5G Economy and makes us the partner of choice for key customers and applications providers. Our high-capacity, low-latency network delivers a superior, unmatched experience that will enable all of our stakeholders to live, work and play in new and amazing ways for years to come.”
Verizon and AT&T’s CEOs have rejected a request from the FAA and US Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg to delay mid-band 5G.
Verizon and AT&T have been at odds with the airline industry over the C-band spectrum the companies plan to use for 5G. The two companies spent over $68 billion on the spectrum at a recent FCC auction, since C-band is squarely in the mid-band range, making it ideal for 5G.
Unfortunately, the spectrum is very close to the frequencies used by airline altimeters, sparking concerns by the airline industry and the FAA. Secretary Buttigieg had asked the two carriers to delay rollout for no more than two weeks past their January 5 deployment date, already a month later than the two companies originally planned.
It seems neither company is willing to comply, with Verizon CEO Hans Vestberg and AT&T CEO John Stankey penning a joint letter saying they will not delay deployment any longer. According to CNBC, the two companies are willing to delay deployment around airports for another six months, but they will not delay general deployment.
The two companies plan to follow an “exclusion zone” plan, similar to what companies in France are doing. Adjustments would be made to account for the stronger 5G signals used in the US versus France, but the goal would be to limit potential interference in the proximity of airports and helipads.
“The laws of physics are the same in the United States and France,” the CEOs wrote. “If U.S. airlines are permitted to operate flights every day in France, then the same operating conditions should allow them to do so in the United States.”
Verizon and Amazon have announced a partnership to use the latter’s Project Kuiper satellites to deliver internet access to underserved communities.
Many companies and organizations are working to address the US “digital divide,” the difference in available internet access for rural vs urban areas. Verizon has been rolling out its Home Internet solution, which uses the company’s wireless service to provide internet access.
In its latest move, Verizon is turning to Amazon’s Project Kuiper to help extend its existing network and serve as the backend for its efforts. Project Kuiper will deliver broadband internet via a constellation of low Earth orbit (LEO) satellites. The company received FCC clearance in July 2020 to launch as many as 3,236 satellites. The approval was conditioned on the company launching at least half that number by July 2026. To date, however, not a single satellite has been launched.
Despite that, it appears Verizon has confidence in Project Kuiper.
“Project Kuiper offers flexibility and unique capabilities for a LEO satellite system, and we’re excited about the prospect of adding a complementary connectivity layer to our existing partnership with Amazon,” Verizon Chairman and CEO Hans Vestberg said. “We know the future will be built on our leading 5G network, designed for mobility, fixed wireless access and real-time cloud compute. More importantly, we believe that the power of this technology must be accessible for all. Today’s announcement will help us explore ways to bridge that divide and accelerate the benefits and innovation of wireless connectivity, helping benefit our customers on both a global and local scale.”
“There are billions of people without reliable broadband access, and no single company will close the digital divide on its own,” Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said. “Verizon is a leader in wireless technology and infrastructure, and we’re proud to be working together to explore bringing fast, reliable broadband to the customers and communities who need it most. We look forward to partnering with companies and organizations around the world who share this commitment.”
Verizon is already struggling to play catchup to T-Mobile’s 5G network. It remains to be seen if hitching its rural endeavors to a company that has yet to deliver will pay off.
Verizon and the NFL have extended their 5G partnership for another 10 years, bringing 5G innovations to NFL stadiums around the US.
Verizon has been working with the NFL for years to help transform all aspects of the game, from 5G-powered AR to improved coaching, scouting, training and more.
The two organizations have extended their partnership for another 10-years, opening the door for even more innovation in the coming decade.
“The NFL has embraced innovation for decades to bring fans closer to the game, from instant replay technology to outfitting players with microphones,” said Hans Vestberg, Chairman and CEO Verizon. “Our longstanding relationship, and swift delivery of 5G connectivity in 25 stadiums, has created new ways to bring fans even closer to the action. As we embark on the next 10 years, our work with the NFL will continue to enhance and transform not only the fan experience, but also has the potential to improve player training and overall venue operations.”
“For the past decade, Verizon has been one of our key technology partners, helping with everything from digital distribution of NFL content, engaging our fans at the NFL’s biggest events, enhancing communications throughout the NFL ecosystem and upgrading technology within stadiums across the League,” NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said. “As we look to the next decade with our trusted partner, Verizon will help us capitalize on the promise of 5G technology, paving the way for the future of the game and delivering incredible experiences for millions of NFL fans.”
Verizon has reported its Q2 earnings, breaking records on strong 5G growth.
Verizon reported revenue of $33.8 billion, a 10.9% increase from the year-ago quarter, and up 5.3% from Q2 2019. The company added 275,000 phone net additions, and reported one of its lowest churn rates in recent years, at a mere 0.65% for retail postpaid phones.
The company attributed much of its success to the increased adoption of 5G phones and services, no doubt aided by the company’s recent aggressive 5G upgrade campaign.
“We are executing on our multipurpose network strategy and producing positive results in each of our five growth vectors, recording strong second quarter results. With more connections on our network than anyone else, our already excellent network performance improved in the quarter and was recognized by RootMetrics as the best overall network performance for the 16th time in a row. We are also expanding our 5G Ultra Wideband and 5G Home markets,” said Verizon Chairman and CEO Hans Vestberg. “We are excited about our momentum leading into the second half of the year. We are on track to close both the Tracfone and Verizon Media transactions, and will continue to bring value and choice to our customers.”
The company also raised its guidance for 2021.
“Second quarter results were exceptional, both financially and operationally,” said Verizon Chief Financial Officer Matt Ellis. “Our strong first half performance and the momentum in our business gives us the confidence to raise our total wireless service revenue growth guidance to between 3.5 percent and 4 percent, an update from prior guidance for 2021 total wireless service revenue growth of at least 3 percent. We are also raising our adjusted EPS guidance to the range of $5.25 to $5.35, an update from prior guidance for 2021 adjusted EPS of $5.00 to $5.15.”
Following reports Verizon was exploring a sale of Yahoo and AOL, its Verizon Media business is being sold to Apollo Funds.
Verizon purchased Yahoo and AOL, both pioneers among the early internet companies. Although both had since fallen on hard times, the two brands still had large, loyal followings. Verizon’s goal was to build an advertising business that could rival Google and Facebook.
Unfortunately, the advertising business proved more difficult for Verizon to crack than it planned. Over the last several years, the company has been selling off some of its media properties, with Yahoo and AOL being the final piece. Apollo Funds has agreed to purchase Verizon Media for $5 billion. The new company will be known as Yahoo, and Verizon will maintain a 10% stake in it.
“We are excited to be joining forces with Apollo,” said Guru Gowrappan, CEO, Verizon Media. “The past two quarters of double-digit growth have demonstrated our ability to transform our media ecosystem. With Apollo’s sector expertise and strategic insight, Yahoo will be well positioned to capitalize on market opportunities, media and transaction experience and continue to grow our full stack digital advertising platform. This transition will help to accelerate our growth for the long- term success of the company.”
“We are thrilled to help unlock the tremendous potential of Yahoo and its unparalleled collection of brands,” said Reed Rayman, Private Equity Partner at Apollo. “We have enormous respect and admiration for the great work and progress that the entire organization has made over the last several years, and we look forward to working with Guru, his talented team, and our partners at Verizon to accelerate Yahoo’s growth in its next chapter.”
“We are big believers in the growth prospects of Yahoo and the macro tailwinds driving growth in digital media, advertising technology and consumer internet platforms,” said David Sambur, Senior Partner and Co-Head of Private Equity at Apollo. “Apollo has a long track record of investing in technology and media companies and we look forward to drawing on that experience to help Yahoo continue to thrive.”
“Verizon Media has done an incredible job turning the business around over the past two and a half years and the growth potential is enormous,” said Hans Vestberg, CEO, Verizon. “The next iteration requires full investment and the right resources. During the strategic review process, Apollo delivered the strongest vision and strategy for the next phase of Verizon Media. I have full confidence that Yahoo will take off in its new home.”
Verizon reported its first-quarter results, citing a strong start to the year despite reporting 178,000 phone net losses.
Verizon’s latest quarterly reports are a mixed bag, simultaneously beating expectations and losing 178,000 subscribers.
The company reported $5.4 billion net income for the quarter, an increase of 25.4%. Similarly, the earnings per share came in at $1.27, up from the $1.00 they were a year ago.
Total wireless revenue came in at $16.7 billion, a 2.4% increase year over year. In spite of that, Verizon experienced 170,000 retail postpaid net losses, including 178,000 phone net losses, compared to 68,000 net phone loses a year ago.
“Verizon is off to an excellent start in 2021 as we met the challenge of intense competition in the first quarter by achieving revenue growth across our three business segments,” said Verizon Chairman and CEO Hans Vestberg. “This year began with a transformative milestone for our company with our success in the recent C-Band spectrum auction. We continue to strengthen our networks, execute on our Network-as-a-Service strategy and focus on the five vectors that underpin our growth framework and position us to deliver success in 2021 and beyond.”
Apple CEO Tim Cook announced today the launch of iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 Pro with 5G:
Today we’re bringing 5G to iPhone. This is a huge moment for all of us and we’re really excited. 5G will bring a new level of performance for downloads and uploads, higher quality video streaming, more responsive gaming, real-time interactivity, and so much more. 5G networks are more advanced with lower latency and less network congestion so you can get higher network speeds even in densely populated areas. 5G even helps protect your privacy and security since you won’t need to connect to unknown unsecured public wi-fi hotspots as often.
Each generation of cellular network technology on the iPhone has enabled breakthrough innovations and entirely new opportunities for our developers and our users. 5G is the most exciting step yet. For so many people this all becomes real with 5G coming to iPhone.
Verizon CEO Hans Vestberg also spoke at Apple’s launch event about the impact of 5G for the iPhone:
5G just got real. Of course, what’s the most exciting part for me as a guy who has worked in networking for 25 plus years? The fact that for the first time ever iPhone can now access Verizon’s 5G Ultra Wideband. It’s built with large quantities on millimeter wave spectrum that enable unprecedented performance. 5G Ultra Wideband has already been recognized as being the fastest 5G in the world and it’s getting even faster. Our 5G network now gives you double the peak download speeds, over 4 gigabits per second today in ideal conditions. And even higher over time.
It also gives you double the upload speeds at over 200 megabits per second. So whatever you’re watching, a high definition movie or you’re planning business workflows with real-time augmented reality, you can be sure that there’s no faster 5G anywhere on earth. 5G Ultra Wideband has also a massive capacity. We’re building it to help remove bottlenecks in crowded places where thousands of people use their phones at the same time. Because one day we’ll be safely back in those places.
Verizon has announced that it is buying TracFone, the country’s largest prepaid wireless reseller, for $7 billion in cash and stock. Over 13 million TracFone subscribers currently use the Verizon cell network via a reseller deal. The acquisition expands Verizon’s offerings in the low-priced market segment, enabling it to upsell its premium products and services to a new set of customers. Verizon says that the “portfolio of Tracfone brands creates a platform for growth and innovation in Verizon’s support of the value and low-income segments. “
Verizon Chairman and CEO Hans Vestberg tweeted: “We are excited about the opportunity to bring Tracfone and its brands into the Verizon family where we can put the full support of Verizon behind this business and provide exciting and compelling products into this attractive segment of the market.” Tracfone is the largest reseller of wireless services in the US, serving 21 million subscribers through a network of over 90,000 retail locations nationwide.
“This transaction is aligned with what we do best: providing reliable wireless service alongside a best-in-class customer experience,” said Vestberg. “We are excited about the opportunity to bring Tracfone and its brands into the Verizon family where we can put the full support of Verizon behind this business and provide exciting and compelling products into this attractive segment of the market. We are pursuing this important strategic acquisition from a position of strength given our very strong and prudent financial profile.”
Ronan Dunne, Executive Vice President and Group CEO, Verizon Consumer Group added: “Since its launch, Tracfone has developed strong consumer brands and has established itself as a clear leader in the value mobile segment. This transaction firmly establishes Verizon, through the Tracfone brands, as the provider of choice in the value segment, which complements our clear leadership in the premium segment.”
“We’re looking forward to welcoming all of Tracfone’s customers and each of Tracfone’s nearly 850 valuable employees. We are excited to expand our relationship with Tracfone’s distribution partners, and when Tracfone’s customers become part of our family, they will get the best of both worlds – more choices, better services, and new features thanks to Verizon’s investment–but with the flexibility and control that they have come to value with its prepaid plans. Being connected is now more important than ever, and Tracfone customers will benefit from Verizon’s innovations–both now and in the future,” Dunne added.
Verizon is paying $3.125 billion in cash and $3.125 billion in Verizon common stock. The company will also pay up to an additional $650 million in future cash consideration related to the achievement of certain performance measures.
“What’s important is that we are building a transformative 5G,” says Verizon CEO Hans Vestberg. “It will have the ultra-wideband that nobody else has with the highest speeds in the world on 5G. Then we are going to have 5G nationwide in the second half. We are also going to have the best 4G network. Our customers are going to feel how transformative our 5G is. It is not an incremental improvement from our 4G, it is transformative.”
Hans Vestberg, CEO of Verizon, discusses their planned nationwide launch of their “transformative” Verizon 5G in the second half of 2020:
We Are Building A Transformative 5G
I’m really excited because we have so many launches coming in the second half of 2020. We are on-plan or ahead of all the things we have committed to. What’s important is that we are building a transformative 5G. It will have the ultra-wideband that nobody else has with the highest speeds in the world on 5G. Then we are going to have 5G nationwide in the second half. We are also going to have the best 4G network. Our customers are going to get a great opportunity here.
We will also have a high penetration with IoS (Apple) and the Verizon customer base. Of course, it is going to be more important even when Apple comes out with a 5G phone. We have a great network all the way to the ultra-wideband to 5G nationwide on top of having the best 4G network. Our customers are going to feel how transformative our 5G is. It is not an incremental improvement from our 4G, it is transformative.
Everyone Wants To Beat Us But We Will Not Let Them
We are well-positioned in terms of the competitive landscape. We have worked on our network for three years now to put us in the best position for 5G now. We also have worked on our mix and match that are customers have asked for. In this quarter, we had a record uptake on our premium unlimited. Our customers are moving up the ladder to be part of our services.
Ronan Dunne, who runs the Verizon Consumer Group has a really good plan on how we are going to compete. This is nothing new for us. We have been leading this market for a long time and of course, everyone wants to beat us. We will not let them beat us. We will just execute on the plans we have.
Verizon CEO Hans Vestberg: We Are Building A Transformative 5G
Verizon is downplaying 5G, when compared to 4G, saying customers will only see “some improvements” initially.
Verizon and T-Mobile have been locked in a battle over 5G, with the two carriers taking swipes at the other’s speed and coverage. T-Mobile has repeatedly emphasized the coverage of its nationwide 5G network, while Verizon has ran ads pointing out its 5G is faster and is “5G built right.”
Now, however, Verizon is downplaying the initial performance of its 5G, with CEO Hans Vestberg saying at the J.P. Morgan investors conference that, “in the beginning, you’re going to see some improvements. Over time, dramatic improvements,”
As we have covered repeatedly in previous articles, much of Verizon’s 5G issues stem from its focus on the high-band mmWave 5G. While offering speeds measured in gigabits, mmWave is notoriously short-range, requiring towers, repeaters and base stations every couple hundred meters. While this may be feasible in densely populated urban areas, mmWave is not practical for rural regions. As a result, while also unveiling mmWave in cities, T-Mobile has focused heavily on low-band 5G for its nationwide network. Low-band has far better range and building penetration, but provides only marginally better speeds than 4G.
In Verizon’s case, however, the carrier is at a disadvantage when it comes to low-band spectrum, especially compared to T-Mobile. Verizon’s 4G LTE network is primarily based on 700 MHz spectrum, which is largely responsible for Verizon’s legendary coverage. T-Mobile similarly uses 700 MHz spectrum for its 4G network, but deployed 600 MHz spectrum for its nationwide 5G, spectrum that theoretically has even better range and building penetration than either carrier’s 700 MHz 4G.
Verizon, however, does not have a wealth of 600 MHz low-band spectrum like T-Mobile. As a result, it has to rely on Dynamic Spectrum Sharing (DSS) technology to share its spectrum between 4G and 5G users for its low-band network. T-Mobile’s Neville Ray has warned about technical issues with DSS, and pointed out that the magenta carrier’s wealth of low-band spectrum means it is not dependent on DSS.
When asked during the conference about Verizon’s DSS plans, Vestberg simply said: “Our technology team are progressing on that.” Needless to say, that response is not reassuring given the issues that have come up with DSS.
Based on the investor conference, Verizon appears to finally be acknowledging, however indirectly, the challenges in providing a true, nationwide 5G network. In contrast, with T-Mobile’s abundance of low-band spectrum, and the absolute wealth of mid-range spectrum it acquired in the Sprint merger, T-Mobile continues to establish itself as THE carrier to beat in the 5G race.
In an interview with Bloomberg Businessweek, Verizon CEO Hans Vestberg talked about Verizon’s recent cloud partnership with Amazon, as well as the transformative effects 5G will bring, especially when paired with cloud computing.
On Cloud Computer Partnership With Amazon
“It is extremely exciting…we spent almost one and a half years with Amazon to do this. So—just to understand what we’re doing with Amazon—we’re bringing the cloud service out to the edge, together with 5G, in order to give super low latency, enormous throughput for applications being developed by developers.”
“This cannot be done. This is the first time in the world where actually we have seen that partnership. Amazon couldn’t have done it by themselves, because they don’t have wireless 5G. Verizon couldn’t have done it by itself, because we are not in cloud service, we don’t have cloud software. The combination of us can create something that is so transformative that, today you basically as a developer you can click on our first 5G edge site in Chicago and start developing an application for 5G with low latency, enormous throughput.”
“Of course…we’re one site right now. Think of us when we have hundreds of them, maybe thousands of them, over time….We can then give 5G experiences of low latency….Autonomous cars, real-time AR/VR, artificial intelligence, all of that can be at the edge.”
“And we’re just seeing the start of it, so that’s why we’re so excited about this partnership and what we launched 3rd of December last year.”
On How 5G Differs From Previous Generations
“Remember, when the design of 5G was done, the idea was this is wireless technology for industries and society….It was of course thought that consumers would get the benefit, but from the beginning was: How can you take away all the cables in the world and have the same performance as you had with cable, being much more agile, having new ways of doing it? That was the idea.
“When I think about 5G, 4G has basically two capabilities: speed and throughput. The phone is better every time you get a new generation. In 5G, eight currencies: battery optimizations, low latency. I mean, just one of the currencies, today I can connect 100,000 devices per square kilometer, tomorrow I can do 1,000,000. There’s never going to be 1,000,000 people on a square kilometer, so it’s done for devices talking to devices, optimizing flows for industries.
“So where are we? I mean, the plan was actually to come out 2020. We came out 2018. I think we’re ahead of the game, but still, from a consumer market, we’re just now starting to massively come into it. As we have said, this year we’re going to launch 20 5G phones….We think that our 5G is so different from others, because the performance on our millimeter wave 5G is just extraordinary. Today I get 2 gigabit per second in my phone! If you have a 4G phone, which you probably have over there, you probably have 40 to 50 megabits per second on Verizon, which is the best network in the country. And here we’re getting 2 gig. You cannot even imagine how much faster that is.”
“I hope not, because one of the beauties of this industry is that we’ve done standardization, which means that you can bring your phone from whichever country you’re in and go to another country and it works.”
Verizon Chairman & CEO Hans Vestberg when asked if the 5G industry is headed for a ‘cold war’ between Chinese and American 5G standards.
Mr. Vestberg was being interviewed in the wake of a recent tear down of Huawei’s latest 5G phone. The tear down revealed no components within in the phone that were compatible with 5G technology and spectrum being used in the U.S.
“That has been the most accessible sort of technology in the world. And in today’s world, with so many challenges, the platform of 4G and 5G is the most important.
“Hopefully people understand that this is an industry that actually share their patents, they share their innovations, in order to get so many people as possible on this Earth to use this technology. Some things we’re combating in the world—education, healthcare, etc.—can be enabled on mobile phones.”
“I think we will have (functional phones running on 5G in 50% of the country) by next year,” says Verizon CEO Hans Vestberg. “It is a functionality called DSS, dynamic spectrum sharing, where basically it’s agnostic to what type of phone you have. It won’t matter whether it’s a 4G or 5G and that’s best for the customer. I think that it’s going to be next year. That’s what I said before. And remember, the prediction is that by 2024 50 percent of the US population will own a 5G phone.”
Hans Vestberg, CEO of Verizon, discusses when 5G will be available and his prediction on when most people will actually own 5G phones, in an interview on CNBC:
50 Percent of US Will Have 5G Capability By Next Year
We have severed 5G phones that are not getting too hot. But of course, at the beginning of technology, you can find those type of things. That’s why we when we launched we launched in one or two markets to see that it’s really working. Now we’re actually deploying in all markets with all our vendors on infrastructure and with four different devices. It is actually starting to work very well.
Remember, in the beginning, we had 600 megabits per second on the phones. Just for comparison, we have 50-100 megabits on 4G. Right now on 5G, we’re at 2 gigs. So only in the six to eight weeks since we have been launching we learn and we do improvements on the software constantly. As I was around when 4G came, I think that 4G took a much longer time to actually reach those improvements. I see a good track record and the whole industries behind it.
I think we will have (functional phones running on 5G in 50% of the country) by next year. It is a functionality called DSS, dynamic spectrum sharing, where basically it’s agnostic to what type of phone you have. It won’t matter whether it’s a 4G or 5G and that’s best for the customer. I think that it’s going to be next year. That’s what I said before. And remember, the prediction is that by 2024 50 percent of the US population will own a 5G phone. Don’t forget that 4G is an extremely powerful technology as well and we need to cater to all our customers with the best network that we have.
50 Percent of US Will Have 5G Capability In 2020, Says Verizon CEO Hans Vestberg
Verizon Communications, Inc. reported a strong Q3 2019 driven by solid gains in wireless customers.
The telecommunications provider reported the “most third-quarter phone gross additions in five years.” In particular, Verizon saw significant growth in postpaid phone subscribers, the most lucrative and sought-after type of customers that wireless companies work to attract.
Verizon also saw an increase of 2.1 percent in customer wireless revenue thanks to customers upgrading to higher-tier plans. This was no doubt encouraged by the company announcing new unlimited data plans in August, with each tier being $5 cheaper than on the previous plans.
“Verizon continued its momentum in the third quarter by driving strong wireless volumes in both our Consumer and Business segments, while delivering solid financial results, highlighted by continued wireless service revenue growth, increased cash flow, and EPS growth,” said Chairman and CEO Hans Vestberg. “We are focused on our 5G rollout strategy, looking to deploy next-generation networks while enhancing our industry-leading 4G LTE network. Going into the fourth quarter, we are energized by the strong performance of the business and we are confident in our strategy to drive value for our customers and growth for our shareholders.”
According to the report, “for third-quarter 2019, Verizon reported EPS of $1.25, compared with $1.19 in third-quarter 2018. The company’s reported earnings include a minimal net impact from special items: a net pre-tax gain of $261 million from dispositions of assets and businesses that was offset by a pension re-measurement pre-tax charge of $291 million. On an adjusted basis (non-GAAP), third-quarter 2019 EPS, excluding special items, was $1.25, compared with adjusted EPS of $1.22 in third-quarter 2018.
“In third-quarter 2019, Verizon’s results included the effects of a reduction in benefits from the adoption of a revenue recognition standard, primarily due to the deferral of commission expense, and the adoption of a lease accounting standard. The combined net impact was a 4 cent headwind in third-quarter 2019, and 13 cents year-to-date, which is included in the year-over-year increase in adjusted EPS.”
“We have a plan to have 30 5G cities by year-end,” says Verizon CEO Hans Vestberg. “We are at 13 right now so we’re adding every week. We added New York last week. We have also updated 13 NFL stadiums with 5G and the NBA season hasn’t even started. We believe that our 5G for the consumer is just crushing it. That’s where we are focusing right now on our mobility build. We also do 5G Home. In the fourth quarter, we are going to launch our 5G Mobile Edge Compute which is an enterprise service with the all-new capabilities of 5G.”
Hans Vestberg, CEO of Verizon Communications, discusses where the company is at in its 5G build-out and how 5G is going to be a dramatic technology shift for consumers and enterprises in an interview on Bloomberg Technology:
We Plan to Have 30 5G Cities By Year-End
For the mobility case, we have a plan to have 30 5G cities by year-end. We are at 13 right now so we’re adding every week. We added New York last week. We have also updated 13 NFL stadiums with 5G and the NBA season hasn’t even started. We believe that our 5G for the consumer is just crushing it. That’s where we are focusing right now on our mobility build. We also do 5G Home. In the fourth quarter, we are going to launch our 5G Mobile Edge Compute which is an enterprise service with the all-new capabilities of 5G.
We have the best 4G network in the market and we will continue to see that our customers get the best experience on the technology we have. We are giving them the first experience on 5G. We were first with the 5G Home and we were first with a 5G smartphone. At the same time, we keep our 4G network (state of the art). We will continue to do that and when we see that the market is ready then we will have national 5G coverage as well. Usually, we speak less and we execute when we have it and then we talk. That’s our strategy.
5G To Enable Factory Wireless For All Robots
I think that all (consumers and businesses) will benefit from 5G but the bonus design from the beginning was very much to make the world cordless for enterprise in society. So the 5G mobile edge compute where we’re going to launch the first Center at the end of this year, that’s really where you can as an enterprise start innovating. You can implement factory wireless for all your robots for example, or put up a 5G campus network, or a private 5G network. This is all with throughput speed and latency that is unparalleled to what you have today. Suddenly you can innovate around that.
I have met many of the 1,400 enterprises in this country over the last six months to talk to them and show them the platform that we’re going to create and how they can innovate to it. This is a partnership between us with the customer and probably in some cases some software developers as well that have software that is needed for it.
5G To Make Home Internet Wireless
Going from 3G to 4G was, of course, an improvement in latency and speed which was visible. But the movement from 4G to 5G is even greater. The speed is so much faster, the throughput is so much more, and the latency (is 10 times better). Of course, it’s all about an ecosystem where you get devices out. Sometimes we talk a lot about consumers and right now we have four phones already out now in the market and all of them are 5G enabled. We see that the whole ecosystem coming from consumers.
Then you have an enterprise business and we also have a 5G home business. We’re actually doing a lot more with 5G instead of fiber. This is a totally different way of thinking about the business model for fixed wireless access bringing broadband to your home. 5G is very different because you can have several business cases on the same infrastructure. It’s the same network and it’s the same infrastructure below. It’s not a separate network for all these business cases we are talking about.
We Plan to Have 30 5G Cities By Year-End, Says Verizon CEO Hans Vestberg
“It’s a great day for us to be first in the world with 5G smartphones and turning on the network,” says Verizon CEO Hans Vestberg. “We decided to turn it on today (8 days early). We are selling the Moto 5G phone. The z3 is in the stores. You can have a fantastic experience with the Verizon 5G Ultra Wideband network in these two cities (Minneapolis, Chicago areas) right now.”
Hans Vestberg, CEO of Verizon, announces the launch of 5G in two cities and the availability of the Moto 5G phone in an interview on CNBC:
Verizon is First in the World to Turn on 5G
The team has been working relentlessly to give our customers this fantastic experience in 5G and actually our test is going so well. Why wait when we have some good news for our customers. So we decided to turn it on today (8 days early). We are selling the Moto 5G phone. The z3 is in the stores. You can have a fantastic experience with the Verizon 5G Ultra Wideband network in these two cities (Minneapolis, Chicago areas) right now.
You’re going to see many more handsets with 5G coming out this year. We have announced two that we will have in the first half of the year. The Motorola, of course, is the one we are going with right now and we’re going to have a Samsung a little bit later in this quarter. That’s the two and then we have others coming in the second half. We’re going to see more 5G phones than probably were expected. We have at least a good relationship with all of those guys.
5G Rolling Out in Minneapolis and Chicago
When it comes to our rollout we are starting with these two cities right now. We’re going to do more than 30 markets this year and we’re working in all these markets right now. We’re going to turn them up as soon as they’re ready. Then we feel that we can give the experience that we want to give to our customers when it comes to 5G, meaning real 5G, and at the same time have the most reliable 4G network.
We think a lot about our customers and how we’re going to treat them. It’s a great day for us to be first in the world with 5G smartphones and turning on the network. I think that says a lot about the team that I have around me and the partners we have. We’re going to do a lot about education around it. Our stores have been trained now to explain what see you can do with it and, of course, we also talked about the ultra-wideband.
You’re Going to See So Much Innovation With 5G
We’re going to have speeds up to 1 gigabit per second compared to around of 50 megabits per second in 4G. It’s 20 times faster when you’re in the 5G zone. Of course, you can do so much with it at the same time. You’re going to have download speeds up to 300 megabits per second which means that it can take down things much quicker. The latencies will be some 30 milliseconds compared to 100 today.
And that’s just a start of 5G. What we saw in 4G was enormous innovation when you see these type of capabilities coming out on a network. You’re going to see so much innovation on 5G. I said it before. it’s not a small sort of evolution from 4G, it’s a quantum leap going to 5G from 4G. You’re going to see a lot of innovation and new applications coming on top of the 5G networks.
Verizon is First in the World to Turn on 5G, Says Verizon CEO Hans Vestberg
There will be real-time enterprise solutions based on 5G, says Verizon CEO Hans Vestberg. He predicts that this is a way to transform an enterprise. Vestberg also says that 5G will continue to aggressively roll out this year and that there will be a Motorola and Samsung 5G phone possibly released within the next six months.
Hans Vestberg, CEO of Verizon, discussed on Fox Business at Davos 2019 the advent of 5G and how it will spark massive innovation and technological change:
5G Will Transform the Enterprise
With business, we are already global as well as with our media strategy with our Yahoo brands, etc. With the consumer, we are only in the US and that is where we are focusing right now. With the 5G coming up that’s, of course, opening up new markets for us that we hadn’t had before. When it comes to wireless consumption for consumers there’s not so much more growth to do. What we see with 5G are so many other use cases. Consumers get the best service now and with 5G they will get even better service than they have today.
We also have 5G Home which is a market that we don’t address today. Then, of course, there will be real-time enterprise solutions based on 5G. This is a way to transform an enterprise. It can be the production floor or a business campus that you transform with 5G. We see other use cases beyond consumers when we go to 5G. We will always take care of our consumers. We are the best network and we have the best performance and that will continue as well.
5G Phones Coming Very Soon
5G phones are coming soon. I have already announced that we will have two 5G phones coming out this year, preferably in the first half of the year. They will be from Motorola and Samsung. What it’s going to mean for consumers is when we have the 5G Ultra Wideband you are going to have 10X throughput and speeds.
I’m sure you are wondering about new use cases with 5G. Remember when 4G came, we didn’t know. I can tell you that when there are so many people on 5G phones people are going to innovate new services with the speed, the throughput, and the low latency. Our plan is to work with the different developers using our platform or our network service in order to get the innovation on top of it. That’s going to create a lot of new services.
5G Home Launching in More Markets
The home service has been predominantly a cable or fiber service. Nowadays, we can see that you can also do that with wireless. You can get it quicker and we also see an increase in cord cutting. We want to give optionality to our customers. If they want a wireless offering they should be able to have that as well.
We see that as a good opportunity. We already launched 5G Home last year in four markets and this year we want to launch in more markets.
Verizon CEO Hans Vestberg says that 5G is much more than just your typical mobile network speed improvement. 5G is a transformative technology that will power the Fourth Industrial Revolution and dramatically change society in the process. Like the three Industrial Revolution’s before this one, the innovations that are enabled by 5G are what will define this technology advancement.
Last year Verizon launched the first 5G network with 5G Home. There is so much to come from 5G this year and the years to come. 5G will change everything. The pace of technology change that we have seen in the last decade has been fast. The only thing we know for sure is that the pace of change is going to be faster in the future. We are going to see technology changes that are going to transform people, businesses, and society.
We are facing multiple challenges on this earth, our daily work life, things around us, climate change, and we are heading into the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Think about all of these challenges and the Fourth Industrial Revolution together with 5G. Together with all the new technology acronyms like VR, AR, AI, and more. All of that together is really what we are talking about when it comes to the technology change that is inevitable that we are going to see in the future.
The Fourth Industrial Revolution Will Be Built on 5G
For us here we are on the cloud. It’s really to see that we are using this change and shape it in a direction that is actually transforming and doing good. The next area of technology advancement is going to be built on 5G. Most importantly, this is a different industrial revolution. The first one was the steam engine. The second one was electricity and the third one was digitization. All of them have a general purpose technology as a base. Then you innovated tremendously on it.
The steam engine, of course, on steamboats connecting continents, trade resulting. Electricity changed everything. Then of course, with digitalization that brought out all the PC computers, the internet and all of that. These were enormous transformations. The general technology for the Fourth Industrial Revolution is actually the total connectivity that 5G can bring. That’s what I see as a huge opportunity for all of us and our society to use in the next era of technology transformation.
5G is a Quantum Leap Compared to 4G
So what is 5G? 5G is a promise of so much than just an increase in wireless technology. From the beginning we had the 1G, the 2G, the 3G, and then the 4G. They were sort of leaps of differences when it comes to speed and throughput. When we think about 5G we think about 10 gigabits per second for throughput. We think about 10x improvement in latency. We think about 1,000 times more data volume to the network. It’s just radically different. It’s a quantum leap compared to 4G.
We have already done some real type of examples. We had an Indianapolis 500 driver that had blacked out windows driving extremely fast with 5G. Latency was so low you could actually drive it.
https://youtu.be/Dw2GT95Vyxc
Those type of things require innovation. Innovation requires a lot of different people and constituencies working with us. When I think about technology I also think a lot about how that can do good for our society. We are entering an era of more challenging things around the world and technology is one of the most important things that can transform it and make it sustainable. At Verizon, we call that human ability. We coined that word because we think about the human in the middle of technology to do right.
The Eight Currencies of 5G
When I think about 5G one of the big differences when we started developing 5G it was thought about giving a new type of solution for industry and for society. Ultimately consumers will have it. The capabilities of earlier wireless technology usually have speed and throughput assets as a different capability. We have eight capabilities in 5G. I call them the eight currencies.
The Eight Currencies of 5G
With the eight currencies of 5G you can do a service on them, you can monetize on them, you can build on them. This is very different than any previous wireless technology. There’s the Peak Data Rate and Mobile Data Volume, but it’s also the Mobility. It’s also how many Connected Devices that you can have. It’s Energy Efficiency and Service Deployment. And then, of course, it’s Reliability and Latency. There are eight currencies that 5G can give to the user. Whether it’s a device, a person, or an industry, that depends on how we are going to innovate on that.
It’s important that we have already started on a journey. Verizon started years ago to start building a network because you need a lot of fiber and you need a lot of dense networks to build these eight currencies. You need real estate to do mobile edge compute. Not only that you need spectrum. In some cases you need millimeter wave spectrum that is giving you enormous throughput and bandwidth.
Peak Rate and Thoughput
What I’m excited about is what innovation can we do on this currency? Let’s talk about the currencies that we have here. The Peak Rate and the Throughput are extremely important when it comes to doing things with speed. The first thing that comes to mind is how quickly can you download a movie on 5G. Today on 4G it takes 3 to 4 minutes with a 90-minute movie. It’s going to take you 10 seconds when you have ultra-wideband. So that’s a use case, but that’s really to limit yourself with what you can do with it.
There’s so much more that you can do when you have that type of Speed and Throughput. It’s a quantum leap compared to what we have today. It’s about rethinking how you can use the increased speed and throughput when you talk about speed at 10 gigabits per second and throughput probably 1000 times more than today. I’m excited about those two currencies, but there are other currencies.
Mobility and Connected Devices
Two other currencies are Mobility and Connected Devices. Mobility or mobile connections, that’s how it’s actually measured in speed. In a 4G network today you can basically capture a radio signal up to 350 kilometers per hour. In 5G it’s roughly 500 kilometers per hour. Why does that matter? Think about high speed trains. Think about things that are going to move extremely fast in the future that are going to bring efficient transportation. With 5G you can captures that.
When it comes to IoT and Connected Devices, one of the limitations of wireless technology today is that you can roughly connect 100,000 devices per square kilometer with 4G. With 5G you can do 1 million. Suddenly you can have massive IoT in order to transform big cities, industry, or behaviours where we need to address challenges that we have today. These two currencies are also very different and address different business cases.
Service Deployment and Energy Efficiency
Let’s talk about two other currencies or capabilities, Service Deployment and Energy Efficiency. Service Deployment is a little hard to explain, but what it’s really about if flexible service deployment where you can match your software with specific customer needs. Think about if you want to do a virtual classroom with five different cities and you want them to have the same software. Today on the 4G network that would take me weeks or even months.
The promise of 5G is that can go down to minutes where we can spin the new service based on the software demands of the customer. These are enormous changes. We just need to think how can we innovate on that?
Now there is of course Energy Efficiency. Here the world is facing the challenges of climate change and our industry needs to think about all of the equipment we are using and that everything we are using is improving how much CO2 we are doing. There are a lot of things coming out but we just need to continue and we need to do that collectively.
5G is promising to reduce up to 90 percent of the power usage that we have with 4G. This is about making the Fourth Industrial Revolution a positive change. The first and second industrial revolutions produced a lot of CO2 emissions because they were the steam engines and electricity. Here we have a chance together to actually power and uniquely address those two as well.
Latency and Reliability
The last two currencies are Latency and Reliability. On the latency side today in the mobile networks we can get to 100 milliseconds or 50 milliseconds. In 5G we will go down to 10 milliseconds. Why is that important? Everything realtime, AR, VR, needs to come down to at least 20 milliseconds in order to avoid delays. There are so many other use cases you can do as well.
Latency and Reliability are very important in the network. It comes down to how we can innovate. It’s just so dramatic how much difference with what you can do things with 5G than with the previous technology cycles.
