Verizon Lights Up Rest of C-Band 5G Spectrum 4 Months Early

pcmag.com:

Two and a half years after spending $45.5 billion on C-band 5G spectrum at an FCC-run auction, Verizon can now make full use of that purchase. 

Satellite operators that previously used that spectrum have finished clearing Verizon’s share of it four months ahead of schedule, allowing the carrier to begin boosting speed and capacity in existing markets while expanding C-band 5G to rural areas.

Verizon says this expansion will allow it to offer at least 140MHz of C-band in each of the FCC-defined “primary economic areas” that fill out the contiguous US, with an average of 161MHz nationwide and 200MHz in some markets. That’s a major upgrade in capacity from the 60MHz of C-band that Verizon could offer in 46 of those markets in January 2022. 

Verizon notes that since the company has already put network gear ready for as much as 200MHz of C-band bandwidth into the markets, software upgrades should let its customers “see the effects of this dramatic increase in bandwidth in the immediate next few days and weeks.”

Karen Schultz, a Verizon spokesperson, said in a subsequent email that while this upgrade should push best-case 5G download speeds past 2Gbps, the more noticeable upgrade should surface “in major gathering areas where customers have traditionally experienced congestion.” And this spectrum boost will bring Verizon C-band 5G to 47 mostly rural markets for the first time.

Verizon was able to get satellite operators like SES to clear their C-band quicker by paying them extra for early exits from those frequencies. 

Verizon and its fellow C-band operator AT&T picked up another boost on July 1, when temporary restrictions on C-band deployment near 50 major airports—imposed in a deal between the wireless industry, airlines