Verizon Wireless turned on the first large-scale 4G LTE network yesterday, Dec. 5, but it is an open question whether or not it will significantly affect consumer behavior in the near future.

Business users will be the first to take advantage of 4G LTE Mobile Broadband network, which Verizon Wireless claims enables speeds up to 10 times faster than the company's 3G network. With the launch, Verizon Wireless is also offering a new 4G LTE Mobile Broadband data plans starting at $50 monthly access for 5 GB monthly allowance, as well as two new 4G LTE USB modems: the LG VL600 which will be available at launch, and the Pantech UML290, available soon.  

?Verizon claims that its LTE launch will kick-start the next generation of mobile broadband, since it is launching LTE in 38 cities,? said Sue Rudd, director of tariff and revenue strategies at Strategy Analytics, Cambridge, MA. ?T-Mobile, however, already claims that 4G is available in its 107 HSPA+ cities and Clearwire currently claims 4G WiMax?with 3-5 Mbps and bursts up to 10 Mbps?in 74 cities.

?T-Mobile also claims that its new HSPA+ network is 4G  with potential for 21 Mbps down and 5 - 7 Mbps up,? she said. ?Now Verizon claims that its new LTE network provides an actual 5-12 Mbps down and 2 - 5 Mbps up and is a ?generational step up? from today's 3G network.

?All three operators believe that their services warrant the name 4G, with 3-5 X the speed of the previous generation, and Verizon believes that customers who actually experience their new LTE network will see it as the real deal?bottom line, 4G,  at least as defined by marketers, actually appears to be here.?

Verizon Wireless is the No. 1 carrier in the United States based on number of subscribers, serving more than 93 million customers. It is a joint venture of Verizon Communications and Vodafone. 

More data consumption?
The biggest impact that the rollout of 4G networks could have on mobile marketers is if the faster speeds translate to increased data consumption among consumers.

If Verizon subscribers to its 4G LTE network consumer more data?more mobile Web browsing, mobile application usage, mobile video viewing and interacting with mobile ads?that will be good for the ecosystem.

?Verizon will initially target traditional PC Data applications to run on the 4G LTE network,? Ms. Rudd said. ?Verizon also indicated that they are relying on application developers to discover the benefits of the higher speeds for all kinds of new applications.

?They did especially mention game players who will experience half the latency of their old network, but Verizon was not ready to discuss specific applications they might promote,? she said. ?Gaming seems like an excellent candidate though.

?Marketers for both conventional PC and gaming applications will be able to promote the performance benefits and low latency for their respective applications.?

Verizon?s 4G LTE network has both strength and weaknesses, according to Strategy Analytics.

Pros
In the positive side, LTE delivers significant new data capacity, since it has approximately two times the spectral efficiency of HSPA+ and at least four times Verizon's EVDO Rev. A network.

It will also have excellent in-building penetration because it runs on Verizon's new lower frequency 700 MHz spectrum, per Ms. Rudd.

?Evidence from other LTE carriers such as MetroPCS, which was the first to offer commercial LTE service in the U.S., and other small European carrierrs indicates that LTE network operations costs may be significantly lower than legacy UMTS/HSPA networks,? Ms. Rudd said.

?However, it remains to be seen whether Verizon can exploit these savings,? she said.

Cons
Verizon will put data users on the 4G network but default to the legacy 3G legacy network for extra coverage or roaming.

To do this, Verizon is relying heavily on seamless interoperability.

Voice and data sessions on a device will be able to operate simultaneously with voice on 3G and data on 4G LTE. But making this really seamless is not going to be easy, per Ms. Rudd.

In the long term, Verizon will migrate traditional voice to VoIP on LTE (VoLTE) probably in late 2012 or early 2013, when the LTE network footprint will finally be comparable to 3G.

?Verizon also mentioned that this early LTE deployment has required significant translation from the documented industry standards by both its infrastructure vendors?Ericsson and Alcatel-Lucent?and device vendors, especially LG,? Ms. Rudd said.

?Further learning experiences may be ahead as Verizon tests the complete legacy interoperability of one of the largest LTE networks deployed to date,? she said. ?AT&T and T-Mobile are upgrading to HSPA+ and waiting and watching as Verizon works any 'bugs' out of its new LTE network.

?These other two carriers have chosen not to be on the ?bleeding edge.??