“Metro Detroit: Welcome to the future,” said John Granby, president –Michigan/Indiana/Kentucky Region, Verizon Wireless. “Our advanced technology is changing the way we all work and play. Today, it gives us the ability to move large files faster and soon enjoy smooth mobile video conferencing. But, this is only the beginning. It’s not about what 4G can do for you. Rather, it’s about what do you want or need it to do?”

This expansion of its 4G LTE network means businesses and consumers will enjoy speeds up to 10 times faster than its 3G network. In real-world, fully-loaded network environments, laptop users experience average data rates of 5 to 12 megabits per second (Mbps) on the downlink and 2 to 5 Mbps on the uplink.

Verizon says its 4G LTE network will cover two-thirds of the US population by mid-2012, and nearly everyone by the end of 2013.

“These agreements enable rural companies to take advantage of our scale and network infrastructure, and bring the benefits of 4G services to their customers quickly and efficiently,” said Molly Feldman, vice president of business development for Verizon Wireless. “Companies in the program are working with our regional network teams to finalize their build plans and get their networks up and running.”

Started last June, the program is designed to fast-forward the delivery of 4G LTE service to rural areas. So far more than 250 organizations have expressed interest in the program, including wireless companies, rural local exchange carriers, Internet service providers and power companies.

To date, six rural carriers in the program and many others are in active negotiations with Verizon Wireless. Bluegrass Cellular, Cellcom, Cross Wireless, Pioneer Cellular, Strata Networks and Thumb Cellular have leased spectrum covering, in total, more than 1.8 million people and nearly 58,000 square miles in Kentucky, Oklahoma, Michigan, Wisconsin and Utah.

“The BlackBerry PlayBook tablet is already being widely recognized for its superior performance, rich web experience, enterprise readiness and deep support for web standards and open development tools,” said Mike Lazaridis, President and Co-CEO at Research In Motion. “We are now building on the BlackBerry PlayBook’s many advantages with support for additional 4G networks that will allow enhanced business opportunities for carriers and developers and unparalleled mobile experiences for users.”

Among other capabilities, the tablet features Web-based media, gaming and applications, Wi-Fi connectivity, a seven-inch LCD display, video conferencing, and forward-facing and rear-facing cameras.

BlackBerry Playbook tablet specs include:

• 7″ 1024×600 WSVGA capacitive LCD touch screen
• Ultra-portable at less than a pound and less than one-half inch thick: 0.9 lbs (400g) and 5.1” x 7.6” x 0.4” (130mm x 194mm x 10mm)
• 1 GHz dual-core processor
• Support for 1080p HD video playback (H.264, MPEG4, WMV)
• HDMI out
• Dual HD cameras for video conferencing and video capture
• 1 GB RAM
• Up to 64 GB internal storage (16, 32 and 64 GB models)
• Wi-Fi

Verizon launched its 4G LTE network this past December in 39 markets and hopes to reach its existing 3G coverage area by 2013.

The company says this takes VoLTE calling from a lab environment to a commercial network for the first time anywhere in the world.

“Today is another proof point that the LTE ecosystem is alive, healthy and thriving. VoLTE will quickly become the global standard for delivering voice over LTE networks,” said Malone.

Verizon Wireless says the initial call was placed at 9:54 a.m. ET Tuesday, Feb. 8, 2011 by Balaji Raghavachari, manager of technology for Verizon Wireless, using a LG Revolution 4G smartphone.

“The GSMA launched a voice over LTE initiative a year ago with the aim of driving a single, industry-wide solution for voice and messaging services via IP,” said Alex Sinclair, chief technology officer at the GSMA. “We commend Verizon Wireless for helping to make this a reality by conducting the world’s first voice call over a commercial LTE network. The progress made by the GSMA, its members, and in particular Verizon Wireless, to enable this functionality will play a crucial role in driving strong momentum and vast economies of scale for LTE all over the world.”

The initial call was a mere 33 seconds long, but subsequent test calls lasted more than 10 minutes.

Verizon launched its 4G network in December, but it currently only supports data. Until late 2012 Verizon’s LTE phones will make all of their voice calls on Verizon’s 3G network, jumping up to LTE where it’s available for data.

According to rumors attributed to a “sole source” believed to be “credible,” Verizon Wireless will formally announce the launch of the iPhone shortly after Christmas, and that iPhones will be immediately available for purchase once this happens. The reason for the post-Xmas timing is that AT&T’s last demand was reportedly the chance to “maximize” holiday sales of the iPhone.

The source said that Verizon Wireless held management training session for iPhone sales last week, and that during the training sessions they used “functioning iPhones (LTE-capable).”

Other reports:

• Steve Jobs is said to be upset that carriers cannot seem to get their LTE act together more quickly
• Apple is “helping” U.S. carriers (money?) to build out LTE more quickly

The new iPhone for Verizon Wireless would become the only 4G LTE version around, and is well timed to follow Verizon Wireless’ recent launch of the 4G LTE network this past December 5th.

“Our progress is good, and we’re confident that the next generation of wireless network technology will deliver the speed, reliability and bandwidth that businesses, government and consumers have been anticipating,” said Lowell McAdam, president and chief executive officer of Verizon Wireless. “Our work on 4G LTE underscores our continuing commitment to provide the best wireless experience available today. Building and operating great wireless networks is what we do, and everything we do at Verizon Wireless – from devices to applications to solutions – stems from that foundation of network know-how.”

Verizon Wireless engineers report trials showing peak download speeds of 40 to 50 megabits per second (Mbps) and peak upload speeds of 20 to 25 Mbps and expects LTE average data rates of 5 to 12 Mbps on the downlink and 2 to 5 Mbps on the uplink in real-world environments.

The announcement comes ahead of next week’s As tech watchers prepare for next week’s CTIA WIRELESS 2010 convention in Las Vegas, NV.

The Washington Post‘s Cecilia Kang seems to be the source of a quote by Verizon Wireless’ Chief Technology Officer Dick Lynch from CES:

The whole paradigm of how we sell devices into the public is changing. At the same time that we announced LTE, we announced an open development initiative where we encouraged third-party developers to deploy devices on our network.

Awesome. Meaning we can finally have wireless internet access that rivals the speeds other countries have been enjoying for years. Then he gets to the interesting part.

The problem we have today with flat-based usage is that you are trying to encourage customers to be efficient in use and applications but you are getting some people who are bandwidth hogs using gigabytes a month and they are paying something like megabytes a month. That isn’t long-term sustainable. Why should customers using an average amount of bandwidth be subsidizing bandwidth hogs?

Well Dick, it’s because I am a bandwidth hog and I enjoy being subsidized, ok?