Verizon says it backs LTE, what's in store for UMB?

Verizon Wireless announced that it will deploy Long Term Evolution (LTE) technology for what it calls its 4G network. Verizon and Vodafone, the co-owners of Verizon Wireless will coordinate a trial of LTE using equipment from Alcatel-Lucent, Ericsson, Motorola, Nokia-Siemens and Nortel. The carrier is also in talks with handset makers like LG, Samsung, Motorola, Nokia and Sony Ericsson and other consumer electronics companies, which anticipate embedding wireless functionality in future products.

Back in September, Vodafone CEO Arun Sarin and Verizon CEO Ivan Seidenberg announced at the Goldman Sachs investor conference [1] that both carriers were planning on using the same technology for their 4G networks and that both are studying the LTE standard. "It makes complete sense for us to go from HSDPA to LTE and it makes sense for Verizon to go from EV-DO to LTE." Sarin said at the time. Since then, Verizon has said it is looking at all of its options.

The big question is what does this mean for the CDMA2000's camp 4G roadmap, Ultra Mobile Broadband (UMB)? The announcement is certainly a blow for the CDMA community, but it isn't quite dead yet. Japan's KDDI still hasn't made its 4G decision.

For more on Verizon's LTE announcement:
- read this press release [2]

Related articles:
- GSMA backs LTE for mobile broadband [3] 
- Verizon picks LTE? Not so fast [4]