Telecoms.com

Despite facing criticism for poor battery life it seems Verizon Wireless’s LTE devices have proved popular with consumers. The US company revealed this week that it sold 1.2 million LTE devices in the second quarter of 2011.

Verizon also managed to add an additional 2.2 million subscribers to its network in the same period, having expanded its LTE network to a total of 102 US markets. It said that 69 per cent of the post-paid additions to its subscriber numbers came from LTE devices or the Apple iPhone.

During the quarter Verizon added three LTE devices to its portfolio; the Samsung Droid Charge and LG Revolution smartphones and the Novatel MiFi 4510L Mobile Hotspot device.

The company said in an earnings call late last week that it had increased capital expenditure on its LTE network, taking total company CAPEX up to $8.9bn compared with $7.6bn the year before. Revenues were up 2.8 per cent year-on-year while second-quarter profits were $1.6bn, compared with a loss of $1.2bn in the second quarter of 2010.

Rumours also abound that Verizon will release an LTE enabled Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet computer this week. In had been expected to release an LTE upgrade for the Motorola Xoom tablet, but this has been repeatedly delayed for unspecified reasons.

Hear Verizon executives speak at the LTE North America 2011 conference on the 8-9 November 2011 in Dallas, Texas.