Verizon in the United States

What follows draws on the FCC’s auction results, licence orders and 2024 Communications Marketplace Report, and on Verizon’s filings with the SEC and its own pages, each with its date.

From 4G LTE to 5G Ultra Wideband

Verizon launched 4G LTE on 5 December 2010 in 38 major metropolitan areas, which held more than a third of all Americans. Its mobile 5G came in April 2019 in Chicago and Minneapolis, under the name 5G Ultra Wideband, and its filing for that quarter named 20 more cities due during the year. By its annual report, the network had reached 31 markets by the end of 2019. In January 2022 Verizon said 5G Ultra Wideband was available to 100 million people in more than 1,700 cities.

The C-band and the rest of its spectrum

The FCC’s Auction 107 sold all 5,684 licences in the 3.7 GHz band, the C-band, to 21 bidders, with gross bids of $81.2 billion. Verizon bid as Cellco Partnership and took 3,511 of them for $45.45 billion. FCC staff estimates for June 2024 put Verizon’s holdings in the screened bands at a population-weighted average of 278.9 MHz, of which 160.1 MHz is C-band. Its annual report for 2025 also lists the 700 MHz Upper C block, cellular 850 MHz, PCS 1900 MHz, the AWS bands and millimetre-wave licences at 28, 37 and 39 GHz.

Lines and coverage in the FCC’s count

The Commission’s report gives Verizon 120.9 million connections at the end of 2020 and 144.75 million at the end of 2023, an estimated 38.6% of the market. It ties part of the jump in 2021 to Verizon’s purchase of TracFone. Verizon’s own count is about 147 million wireless retail connections at 31 December 2025. On FCC data for the end of 2023, its 5G-NR at 7/1 Mbps covered about 75% of the population, 35% of road miles and 12% of the land area; at 35/3 Mbps, the population figure was about 67%.

Who owns it, and an FCC rule on unlocking

Cellco Partnership, the company that bid in the auction, is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Verizon Communications Inc. Verizon won nine of the 12 Upper 700 MHz C Block licences that cover the 48 contiguous states, and the FCC’s rules for that block required it to unlock handsets 60 days after activation. On 12 January 2026 the FCC’s Wireless Telecommunications Bureau waived that rule. Verizon committed to the unlocking policies of the CTIA Consumer Code instead, and the waiver lasts until the Commission settles on one approach for the whole industry.

Older phones and prepaid lines

The CDMA network behind Verizon’s 3G was gone by 3 January 2023. The retirement also took out 4G phones that lack HD Voice, which could no longer call, text or use data. For a new Verizon Prepaid line with your own eSIM phone, the My Verizon app first checks that the phone can activate an eSIM, and Verizon says you must be in the United States when you buy the plan and activate the device.

Install the eSIMSwitch it on after landingNo connection