11.2B Reasons Why I’m Excited About the Future of Wireless

In September, my family and I packed up our belongings and moved across the pond to the U.S. so I could take a leadership role at Verizon Wireless.

Of course as anyone who’s made a big move knows, making the decision to uproot my family wasn’t an easy one. From our life-long friends to our favorite pub and our beloved football team, we had a lot to consider.

For me, what it really came down to was the opportunity to run the best wireless company in the most vibrant market in the world at a critical transformational moment in its history. Now four months on, I’m confident I made the right decision, as there’s no company better positioned for the future of technology than Verizon.

Here’s why.

When Verizon Wireless was formed in 2000, the goal was simple - create the world’s biggest, most reliable wireless network and provide customers with a quality mobile experience.

17 years later, Verizon continues to deliver on that promise amid unprecedented customer demand for wireless services.

On our 4G LTE network alone, usage grew by 47 percent year over year in 2016. In the United States as a whole, it’s predicted that by 2020 there will be 292.2M mobile users and 11.6B mobile connected devices. And these users will produce about 3.3 GB of traffic per month with mobile video accounting for 75% of traffic. 

Mobile connectivity is becoming more and more mainstream every day with wearable technology and connected solutions permeating nearly every aspect of life, from fitness to fashion and even to pet tracking. And with a predicted $14.4 trillion of value at stake over the next decade, driven by the Internet of Things, it’s clear that Verizon’s mission is even more critical now then it was 17 years ago.

In a world where your cell phone is increasingly the remote control for your life, making sure customers can do whatever they want on our wireless networks is the driving force behind our network investment strategy. We invested $11.2B in our 4G LTE network over the last year … that’s $30.7M every day. Today, our 4G LTE network covers more than 2.4 million square miles and 314 million people – by far the largest in the country. To give you some perspective, T-Mobile invested $5B last year in network infrastructure and Sprint less than half of that.

We use our investment to constantly improve our network and prepare for the mobile-first future. For example, we’re deploying small cell technology to densify our network and aggressively automating nearly every function to quickly adjust to customer demand in real-time. We’re mounting small cells on existing structures like street lights to extend 4G LTE coverage and increase network capacity where it’s needed most. This critical infrastructure also supports the Internet of Things (IOT), smart cities, and ultimately grounds our future 5G network.

This obsessive focus on network quality and reliability means we consistently deliver the kind of service that customers can depend on as their demand for mobile services grows (and organizations like JD Power, Nielsen, RootMetrics and PC Mag rank #1)- whether it’s streaming a video or calling for help.

And it’s why we have the coverage, speed and capacity to launch the first truly unlimited plan that doesn’t ask customers to compromise on quality.

Today is the culmination of the very thing that we set out to do back in 2000.

We’ve designed our unlimited plan without limits on where, when and how you use it on our 4G LTE network. It includes features like HD Video and 4G Hotspots and keeps us one step ahead of what our customers need.

We will continue to push the envelope in network technology to bring more Verizon-powered possibilities to the market. This year, we’re trialing the next generation of wireless or 5G, which will deliver speeds 100 times faster than current technology, unlock the full potential of the Internet of Things and ensure that our customers will have access to whatever the future of the digital world holds.

Are you salivating yet? Announcements like today’s are exactly why I joined Verizon.

I came because I believe that the possibilities of technology should be open to everyone. As we move beyond simple connectivity to a world of connectedness, connecting with the people and things you love most shouldn’t be compromised no matter where you are in the world. I came because I wanted to be part of a team that believes that there’s always room to shift to a higher gear (as our CEO, Lowell McAdam says). And I came because I believe leadership is about taking us to places we wouldn't otherwise reach. It’s living on the edge of what’s next…and helping build a strategy to get there.

Technology is changing every day, and we’re committed to investing in everything you’ll need to connect to the promise the digital world offers- no matter how many times you stream your favorite cat video on YouTube or how many hours you spend texting your best friend about the things that matter most in your life.

Our network isn’t just ready for what’s next. It’s ready for anything.

**All market data pulled from the Cisco VNI Mobile Forecast, 2016-2021