Verizon: История и развитие американского оператора связи

American telecommunications company

Verizon is an American wireless network operator that previously operated as a separate division of Verizon Communications under the name Verizon Wireless. In a 2019 reorganization, Verizon moved the wireless products and services into the divisions Verizon Consumer and Verizon Business, and stopped using the Verizon Wireless name. Verizon is the second largest wireless carrier in the United States, with 144.8 million subscribers as of December 31, 2023. It currently has the largest network in the United States with their LTE network covering 70% of the United States. The company is headquartered in Basking Ridge, New Jersey. It was founded in 2000 as a joint venture of American telecommunications firm Bell Atlantic, which would soon become Verizon Communications, and British multinational telecommunications company Vodafone. which in the second half of 2020 won or tied for top honors in each category of the RootMetrics RootScore Reports. by 2022, 200 million people were covered by Verizon's 5G Ultra Wideband network.

In September 1999, American phone company Bell Atlantic and British based Vodafone Airtouch PLC proposed they would create a new wireless phone service joint venture valued at $70 billion. The joint venture was being created as Bell Atlantic underwent a merger with GTE Corporation. In April 2000, the companies announced that the Bell Atlantic–GTE merger would take the name Verizon and that the Bell Atlantic–Vodafone wireless unit would be called Verizon Wireless (legally Cellco Partnership d. b. a. Verizon Wireless). Verizon Communications owned 55 percent of Verizon Wireless while Vodafone retained 45 percent ownership. Regulators with the Federal Communications Commission approved the Bell Atlantic–GTE merger on June 16, 2000, creating the largest wireless company in the United States. Verizon Wireless held this market position until AT&T Wireless Services acquired Cingular Wireless in 2004. Throughout the 2000s, Verizon acquired several wireless phone companies and assets across the country, including West Virginia Wireless in 2006; Ramcell in 2007; Rural Cellular Corporation and SureWest Communications, both in 2008. Also in 2008, Verizon struck a deal to buy Alltel for $5.9 billion in equity while assuming $22.2 billion worth of debt. The deal was finalized on January 9, 2009, again making Verizon Wireless the country's largest cellphone network. Verizon's acquisitions continued in the 2010s, including the purchases of some Plateau Wireless markets in 2012 and Golden State Cellular's operator in 2014. Majority owner Verizon Communications became sole owner of its wireless business in 2014, when it bought Vodafone's 45 percent stake. Vodafone received $58.9 billion cash, $60.2 billion in stock and $11 billion in other consideration. An article in The New York Times estimated Verizon Wireless' valuation at about $290 billion. In January 2015, Verizon announced they would give customers the option of opting out, and since April 1, 2015, Verizon has allowed customers to opt out, either online or by calling a special phone number. In August 2016, Verizon hired Ronan Dunne, the former head of British provider O2, as the new president of its wireless business. In September 2016, Comcast confirmed that it planned to launch a mobile service, using Verizon's network as an MVNO, in mid 2017. In February 2017, in the wake of competition from Sprint and T Mobile, and initiatives to expand the capacity and improve the quality of its network by using macrocells and supporting carrier aggregation, Verizon announced that it would bring back an "unlimited" data plan (subject to throttling in heavy network areas after 22 GB of usage). Verizon's decision not to restrict the bitrate of video services prompted Sprint and T Mobile to remove similar restrictions from their own plans. In March 2017, Verizon announced that all their Android phones will have AppFlash, to help users find content and services across different apps. Critics spoke harshly against it. In May 2018, former Verizon executive Miguel Quiroga launched the pre paid carrier Visible in Denver Colorado, which Verizon funds and owns. On June 8, 2018, Verizon announced that Hans Vestberg had been chosen to become CEO on August 1, 2018. In August 2018, the fire department of Santa Clara County, California, filed evidence in a lawsuit seeking the reinstatement of net neutrality policies, which accused Verizon of throttling an "unlimited" wireless data plan associated with a vehicle that was being used to coordinate responses to the Mendocino Complex Fire. The department reported that a Verizon Wireless customer service representative insisted that they must upgrade to a higher cost data plan in order to restore their internet speed. In a statement, Verizon acknowledged that they did not properly explain the terms of the contract, and that the representative did not adhere to a company policy of removing these restrictions during emergency situations. In 2019, Verizon Wireless services were split between two new divisions: Verizon Consumer and Verizon Business. In 2020 Verizon launched a prepaid mobile phone service named Yahoo! Mobile after acquiring a 10% interest in Yahoo!. The service was shut down on August 31, 2021, in favor of Visible. On November 23, 2021, Verizon purchased TracFone Wireless which was worth an approximately $6.25 billion.

Verizon Wireless operates 5G and 4G LTE networks. as of 2020, Verizon claims that 99% of the population of the United States can access their 4G network. However, OpenSignal's crowdsourced data showed 4G coverage of 95.9%. Before Verizon's LTE network was launched, the company operated an exclusively CDMA2000 network (the other major CDMA2000 carrier in the US being Sprint). Verizon began its initial tests for the 4G LTE network in 2008 in order to move from older generation mobile communications technologies to the emerging global standard. In December 2010, Verizon Wireless launched a fledgling 4G LTE network in 39 markets. By December 2011, only a year after launch, 200 million Americans were covered with 4G LTE, in 190 markets. as of 2016, 98% of the U. S. was covered with LTE, and 92% of all data traffic was on LTE. In 2012, the service provider bought spectrum from the country's biggest cable companies, including Comcast, and Spectrum (Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks at the time) to improve its data network across the U. S. The new capacity allowed Verizon to launch what it calls XLTE (LTE on Band 4) in 2013, providing more capacity in congested and well populated markets. Because 4G LTE is a data transmitting network, when it launched, Verizon customers' voice calls were still carried over the company's CDMA2000 network, which was developed for 3G cellphones. In September 2014, Verizon launched voice over LTE (VoLTE); this allowed voice calls to transmit via the data only LTE network. This also allows for simultaneous voice and data services, something that is unavailable on traditional CDMA2000 calls. Along with VoLTE, Verizon also announced support for HD Voice, which provides higher quality audio for VoLTE calls, and native Video Calling for Android phones. In March 2016, Verizon enabled support for Wi Fi Calling, which allows calls to be placed over a Wi Fi network. as of 2015, nearly 4 million of Verizon's 103.7 million subscribers used VoLTE. A report by RootMetrics on carrier performance in the second half of 2020 ranked Verizon's network as the best in overall national performance, network reliability, network speed, data performance and call performance. Verizon Wireless and AT&T tied for first in text performance. By the end of 2019, Verizon had launched 5G service in 30 cities across the U. S. Verizon's 5G network is deployed on millimeter wave spectrum (mmWave). While fast, the high band spectrum Verizon uses has limited range and high penetration loss. In October 2020, during a virtual event unveiling the iPhone 12, Verizon announced that it had begun to widely deploy 5G service on sub 6 GHz spectrum, branded as "Nationwide 5G". This service has a wider range than its mmWave 5G (henceforth branded by Verizon as "5G Ultra Wideband") services, and is available to most existing Verizon subscribers with a supported device (unlike mmWave service, which requires one of the service's newer unlimited plans), but uses "dynamic spectrum sharing" with LTE service, and does not have the same level of speed as mmWave. As of December 2020, more than 200 million people were able to access Verizon’s 5G network through Verizon’s DSS enabled service. As of April 2023, Verizon reached 200 million people covered for its Verizon's 5G Ultra Wideband. Verizon intended to retire its 2G and 3G CDMA network in favor of LTE and 5G on January 1, 2021, but made a last minute decision to "indefinitely" halt the retirement. They later confirmed that the CDMA network will be retired on December 31, 2022. Verizon customers using a CDMA only device, or an LTE device that does not support Voice over LTE, were required to upgrade to a newer device in order to continue using the network. The shutdown was completed at the end of 2022 as planned.

Verizon Wireless offers mobile phone, home telephone, and Internet services through a variety of devices.

Verizon Wireless offers smartphones powered by Apple's iOS and Google's Android. Both its basic phones and smartphones use their 4G LTE or 5G network. The company offers different voice and data plans for its users.

Introduced in February 2015 as Verizon Wireless Home Phone Connect, Wireless Home Phone uses Verizon's cellular network rather than using traditional landline wires to provide home phone service.

Verizon Mobile network, branded as Jetpack. The company offered home Internet service through a 4G LTE Broadband Router with Voice that can connect up to 10 devices over Wi Fi as well as home phone service. This service and device have since been discontinued.