Verizon Makes 4G LTE A Requirement For Upcoming Phones

Verizon's introduced a number of shiny new gadgets in the past week or so at CES, and as I'm sure many folks noticed, nearly every one was packing 4G LTE connectivity. That's no coincidence, as the carrier has told CNET that 4G support is "a hard requirement" for future devices. That means that almost every smartphone, tablet and hotspot that we see going forward should include LTE, although an exception to that will be Verizon's push-to-talk products. Don't think that this means that Verizon will be exclusively sticking with Android and iPhone, though, as Keith Lampron, Verizon's associate director of device marketing, said that the carrier intends to support Windows Phone in the future as well.

Major smartphone manufacturers have been coming out with new models left and right and 4G LTE appears to be a staple among their list of new features, so conforming with the network’s requirement isn’t much of a problem.

This news isn't a total surprise considering how aggressively Verizon has been in building out its 4G LTE network and picking up spectrum to support that network as of late. Of course, Verizon's requirement may not be terribly exciting for anyone that's not quite ready to make the jump to a 4G device, but it sounds like those folks may not be able to avoid LTE for much longer.

Aside from reiterating the 4G requirement for smartphones, Verizon Wireless’ CTO, David Small, also said that the company is actively pushing its network to many areas. Verizon is looking to have up to 400 areas covered by 4G LTE by the end of the year from the 200-plus currently in service.

Verizon 4G LTE Network Speed Test:

Win one of four Samsung GALAXY Nexus units from Verizon

So how would you like to win a Samsung GALAXY Nexus? Starting Tuesday at 10am and going through Friday, Verizon is holding a Twitter contest. Each day, there will be one winner of a brand spanking new Samsung GALAXY Nexus. The first thing you have to do is to follow @VerizonWireless on Twitter, Then, each day you are required to tweet Big Red with specific messages or photos.

Win a Samsung GALAXY Nexus
On Tuesday, you need to tweet a photo of your funniest face to #GalaxyNexus4X4 using a third party photo tweeting service such as YFrog or Twitpic. On Wednesday, send a tweet to #GalaxyNexus4X4 containing two circles you would keep away from each other (for example, baristas and Samsung Galaxy S II owners). On Thursday, send a tweet to #GalaxyNexus4X4 describing what you would like to share faster over 4G LTE (for example, videos, music, etc.). On the last day of the contest, Friday, tweet to #GalaxyNexus4X4 the first name of someone special.

You are limited to 10 entries per Twitter account for each day. The drawings to determine the winners will take place on January 31st. You must be at least 18 years old today (Happy Birthday!) and creating multiple Twitter accounts to enter the contest will result in disqualification. So get to work and start thinking about the contest, and how nice it will be to have a Samsung GALAXY Nexus in your hand.

Verizon reports loss in Q4, net subscribers increase the most in three years thanks to record iPhone sales

Verizon added 1.5 million net retail customers in Q4 - that's the most the carrier has done in three years, riding high on the iPhone 4S excitement.

Its overall 7.7 million smartphone additions fell a bit short of expectations, so the 1.2 million postpaid subscribers it added were mainly due to doubling the iPhone 4S units sold to over four million, compared to the previous quarter.

The carrier still logged a loss of $2.02 billion because of one-time pension plan revaluation charge of $3.4 billion, but also thanks to the large susbsidies it shells out for all those iPhones. The carrier is, of course, hoping to recuperate the initial investment over the life span of a typical contract, which brings about $2000 to it on average.

One of the expected, but still interesting developments is the huge spike in data revenues - the carrier raked in $6.3 billion of data revenue, representing roughly 42% of its total.

This only shows the growing importance of data for carriers, with the traditional channels like voice and especially text with its huge margins, likely to get less and less important down the road. Verizon now stands at 108.7 million total subscribers.