US mobile operator Verizon Wireless has revealed further details of its LTE rollout, earmarking Boston and Seattle as the first two US markets where it will trial the new network later this year. Verizon president and COO Denny Strigl revealed the identities of the first two markets at a recent investment analyst meeting as he outlined the firm’s “current game plan with LTE,” reports Information Week. He reiterated Verizon’s earlier guidance that it plans to rollout commercial LTE services in up to 30 US markets next year. “Our plan is to cover 100 million POPS [US population coverage],” said Strigl. “In 2011 and 2012, we will continue to expand significantly with the ultimate goal being to cover all of our POPS with this great product by the end of 2013.” The report notes that the choice of Boston and Seattle as early launch markets could put the LTE network in direct competition with WiMAX operator Clearwire, which will have launched in both markets by next year.

The rollout schedule could potentially make Verizon Wireless the first operator worldwide to commercially launch the next-generation network technology. The operator will roll-out the network using the 700MHz spectrum it acquired last year, which is being freed up from the switchover from analogue to digital TV. According to Information Week, the operator has still not revealed much about LTE pricing, though John Killian (Verizon executive vice president and CFO) indicated at a meeting with analysts last month that the company will monitor LTE pricing structure as the service is rolled out over a 12 month period. “Clearly there’s an appetite for high speed. They’ll just have to figure out what to charge for it,” said Joe Nordgaard, managing director of Spectral Advantage, in an interview. Vendors involved in the rollout include Alcatel-Lucent, Ericsson, Nokia Siemens Networks and Starent Networks.