At a recent conference in Texas, Verizon CTO Tony Melone talked a bit about his company's LTE network and its plans for the technology going forward. Melone explained that Verizon plans to include voice over LTE (VoLTE) capability in at least some of its phones by later in 2012 and that by the time 2013 rolls around, we could begin seeing phones that are 4G-only. If the idea of a 4G-only phone has you a little concerned, don't fret: Melone explained that Verizon wouldn't be pushing people off of its 3G network. However, Melone also said that Verizon will be covering its 3G network with LTE "and then some," meaning that folks in areas of the country without 3G, including more rural markets, will be getting in on the 4G fun.

Verizon seems pretty aggressive about rolling out its LTE network and getting 4G-only phones out on the market, although it's kind of disappointing that we won't be seeing any VoLTE-capable phones for another year or so. The good news is that we've got a demo of VoLTE on an LG Revolution embedded below to whet our appetite until then.

Via MobileBurn, GigaOM