Verizon says it’s weeks away from a serious improve to rural 5G

Verizon says its as much as 200MHz C-band 5G spectrum has been cleared to be used 4 months forward of schedule — an improve it says will deliver extra bandwidth and sooner throughput to its prospects, notably these in rural areas. The corporate will use the brand new spectrum to broaden its 5G-based dwelling and enterprise web enterprise along with enhancing its wi-fi cellphone service. The spectrum is accessible after the FCC validated satellite tv for pc communications firm SES’s transfer to utilizing greater C-band spectrum earlier this month.

On X (previously Twitter), folks have lately reported seeing 100MHz of spectrum for its 5G Extremely Wideband (UW) service in rural locations like Intercourse, Pennsylvania, and Bristol, Virginia, exhibiting Ookla Speedtest screenshots of wi-fi throughput usually solely seen in small sections of huge cities. Verizon says it has made its new C-band spectrum accessible to 359 markets up to now — we’ve requested for a full listing and can replace if the corporate responds.

The wi-fi firm says it’s rolling out as much as 200MHz of C-band spectrum to virtually 40 million folks in 158 “largely rural” markets, whereas the remainder of its community will see a “minimal” 140MHz, with accessible spectrum averaging 161MHz throughout the nation.

The corporate says the now-available spectrum will bolster its so-called 5G Extremely Wideband community — the blanket time period it makes use of for each C-band and mmWave 5G — by “greater than doubling and, in some markets, tripling the 5G bandwidth” it presents.

Verizon massively outspent its rivals within the 2021 C-band public sale, dropping $45.4 billion to beef up its 5G community with further spectrum. It then started deploying the 60MHz a part of its new spectrum in 2022 and says it has been increasing to different markets because the spectrum has been cleared in further markets.