US operator Verizon has expanded its 5G coverage by increasing the amount of C-band spectrum it is using at various places across the country.

As the US 5G race continues, Verizon announced it is rolling out 100 MHz of C-band spectrum in many sites across America, almost doubling the available spectrum from the 60 MHz it has been able to deploy so far.

According to Kyle Malady, EVP and President of Global Networks and Technology at Verizon, the increase from 60 MHz to 100 MHz of C-band spectrum will allow the operator to support increased network traffic, deliver even better performance to their customers, and introduce new products and services to their offer of mobile and fixed wireless access solutions.

The operator has not specified how many markets will already be getting this upgrade or how many will follow in the not-too-distant future. One thing is for certain–Verizon will be able to use this expanded spectrum to increase the quality of their services.

However, the privilege to do so came with a hefty price tag.

In March, the operator announced that it had entered agreements with satellite operators to get early access to the C-Band spectrum that it won back in 2021, which comes with several different release dates. One of those satellite companies, SES, confirmed that it would provide early access to a portion of the C-band at 3.7 GHz-3.8 GHz in 2022, rather than by the end of next year, which would cost Verizon $170 million.

This amount, as well as any other additional money Verizon is paying to the satellite operators, comes on top of the whopping $53 billion the operator has already spent during the C-band auction.

Given this information, it comes as little surprise that Verizon is willing to deploy the additional spectrum as soon as possible while maximising its marketing efforts.

The operator disclosed that during a recent trial that involved 100 MHz of C-band spectrum, its engineers reached peak download speeds of 1.4 Gbps close to active cell sites and 500 Mbps further away. Verizon also revealed that as it clears more spectrum in the coming months and years, its customers will ultimately gain access to between 140-200 MHz of C Band spectrum throughout the country.

At this point, it’s worth reminding that Verizon and AT&T are involved in an ongoing feud with the US airline industry over concerns that 5G signals using C-band spectrum could interfere with altimeters. Last month, the operators reached an agreement to postpone 5G rollouts around airports until July 2023, while the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is urging the airlines to remedy interference issues by adding radio frequency filters to altimeters that could be affected.

Despite this hurdle in the operators’ 5G rollout plans, deployment away from airports is well underway.

Aside from providing customers with faster mobile phone services, Verizon’s spectrum expansion will also lead to fixed broadband services becoming available in more places. The operator itself claims that it is becoming a powerful competitor to traditional home broadband service.

Whether that statement is true or not, there is a lot of opportunity for the telcos in the traditional fixed broadband space in America, and all the hype around C-band rollout from operators like Verizon appears to be justified.

Source: Telecoms.com