Ed Chan, chief network engineering officer at Verizon, told an investor conference the operator aimed to cover 90 million points-of-presence (PoPs) with C-Band spectrum by the end of the year, in its latest progress update.

The executive told a Cowen and Company conference Verizon aimed to cover 100 million PoPs by Q1 2022 and offered assurances satellite service providers currently using the Category-A portion of the C-Band spectrum were on track to clear the frequencies by the end of this year.

Verizon tapped Samsung and Ericsson to deploy radio equipment, with Chan noting it aims to have at least 7,000 to 8,000 sites by end-2021. He said the operator planned to also deploy CBRS equipment at some of these, with a focus on more densely-populated markets.

The operator previously stated that the 100 million PoPs it plans to cover in this initial rollout are spread across 46 US markets.

Verizon committed almost $53 billion on C-Band spectrum, comprising the purchase price and cost of reimbursing satellite service providers for vacating the frequencies.