Verizon Rural LTE Program Now Reaches 2.5 Million People

It’s hard to believe it’s been five years since we first heard about Verizon’s LTE in Rural America program, which gives small rural network operators the ability to build out Verizon spectrum in areas where Verizon is not doing a build-out. Verizon celebrates the five-year anniversary by sharing program accomplishments, including reaching 2.5 million people. The Verizon rural LTE program was a pet project for Verizon chief Lowell McAdam, who announced the project in May 2010. Not surprisingly the project quickly gained support, as a key benefit was the ability to use virtually the same devices that manufacturers were creating for Verizon. In contrast, rural operators with spectrum holdings in bands not used by one of the large national carriers had considerable difficulty getting manufacturers to build devices for them.

Sprint Follows Verizon’s Lead: Since Verizon launched LRA, Sprint also has launched a program to enable rural network operators to build out Sprint spectrum. The details are somewhat different, as the program is administered by the NetAmerica Alliance, in cooperation with the Competitive Carriers Association. But as with LRA, the Sprint program enables rural network operators to build out Sprint spectrum, gain technical support and use virtually the same devices that Sprint uses.