Verizon has been scooping up quite a bit of Advanced Wireless Service spectrum lately, snagging some from a consortium of cable companies as well as fellow carriers AT&T and T-Mobile. Now we know which device will be one of the first in Verizon's lineup to gain access to that AWS spectrum once it's deployed.
Speaking to Bloomberg, Verizon executive Mike Haberman has confirmed that the Samsung Galaxy S 4 contains the parts necessary to operate on Verizon's AWS LTE airwaves. Haberman, who is Verizon's VP of network operations, explained that the Galaxy S 4 will require a software update in order to be able to connect to the AWS spectrum. There's no word yet on when this update is expected to be pushed to users.
Haberman also touched a bit on Verizon's rollout plans for its AWS spectrum. The exec said that work on deploying the AWS service is already underway and that service is expected to go live in some major cities, such as New York, in the coming months.
Verizon has been growing its 4G LTE coverage ever since the network first launched in December 2010, and the service is currently available in 497 markets across the U.S. The addition of this AWS spectrum will help Verizon to increase the capacity of its LTE network to accomodate the increasing number of subscribers and devices that are hopping onto it.
While the Galaxy S 4 will be the one of the first devices to take advantage of this AWS spectrum, Verizon will be adding more AWS-capable devices to its lineup as it continues to deploy the AWS spectrum on its LTE network. Until then, it looks like the Galaxy S 4 may have just gained an extra feature to entice Verizon customers that are in the market for a new handset.
Via 9to5Google, Bloomberg
