Verizon's Shammo: We have enough spectrum for 4-5 years

Verizon Communications CFO Fran Shammo said that Verizon Wireless now has enough spectrum to handle its capacity needs for the next four to five years. He called the carrier's recently approved $3.9 billion purchase of nationwide AWS spectrum from a group of cable companies "an absolute strategic acquisition for us."

Speaking at the Goldman Sachs Communacopia Conference, Shammo said there is now no real urgency for the next four to five years. That said, he noted that over time as usage on the carrier's EV-DO network declines, Verizon will start repurposing some of its 3G spectrum for LTE service. The Verizon finance chief said that by mid-2013 the company will have filled in its 3G coverage footprint with LTE service using its 700 MHz spectrum. At that point, he said, Verizon may start deploying its AWS spectrum for LTE in certain cities.