Verizon Has Spectrum Portfolio to Compete in 5G, CEO Says

Verizon owns a spectrum portfolio “for the 5G-era” and is “on track” to launch 5G in 30 markets this year, CEO Hans Vestberg said Thursday during a call with analysts as the company released Q2 results. Fiber is critical to 5G and Verizon’s fiber deployment extends to more than 60 cities, he said: “It's so essential for the whole 5G play that we have to have this fiber.” Throughput speeds in 5G areas are as fast as 2 Gbps, compared with 600 Mbps with LTE, he said. Verizon estimated it will spend $17 billion-$18 billion this year on its network. Net income for the quarter was $4 billion, compared with $4.2 billion a year ago. Revenue was $32 billion vs. $32.2 billion last year. The company had a net increase of 1.2 million retail postpaid connections -- 431,000 phone and 647,000 smartphones. “Subscriber results were better than expected; financial results a little worse,” said New Street’s Jonathan Chaplin: “No change to guidance. I wouldn’t expect material changes to expectations based on these results.” Technology Business Research analyst Steve Vachon told investors that unknowns remain on Verizon’s spectrum plans. “Verizon plans on eventually deploying 5G on multiple spectrum licenses to provide nationwide coverage but a concrete timeline has yet to be disclosed beyond the company’s initial goal to offer mobile 5G services to 30 cities by the end of 2019 via millimeter wave spectrum,” he said: “Though initial 5G deployments will enable Verizon to build a presence in large metro areas, Verizon will likely trail AT&T and T-Mobile is serving smaller markets as the companies expect to provide nationwide 5G coverage in 2020 by leveraging both millimeter wave and low-band spectrum.”