Get Ready for Verizon Wireless LTE Network Next Year

This might be a little bit of wishful thinking, but it would absolutely be awesome if they managed to pull it off. According to a high-ranking official at Verizon Wireless, the cellular service provider will start rolling out its 4G LTE network as early as next year.

More specifically, Verizon Communications Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer Dick Lynch went on the record, exclaiming that the company’s timetable for the LTE rollout is aiming for a deployment sometime in late Q4 2009. Yes, that’s still about a year away, but it’s still next year, possibly beating some of the other LTE-prepping providers in North America to the punch.

The deployment of Verizon’s 4G LTE network is not just for testing purposes, because the deployment will be ready for consumer service “probably this time next year,” said Verizon’s Lynch. The initial deployment will be small in scope, to be sure, and will likely follow the same kind of slow rollout that we’ve been seeing with Sprint’s XOHM WiMAX network.

To supplement the arrival of LTE, Verizon Wireless also plans to deploy femtocell technology. This technology will be made available to Verizon customers and is designed to increase signal strength and range indoors. Just because you’re stuck in a concrete jungle or buried in an underground parking lot doesn’t necessarily mean that you’ll be out of network access.

Will Verizon beat other US providers to the LTE punch? Time will tell.