This year, Verizon is exhibiting for the first time at CES. Its purpose in doing so is to showcase its recently launched LTE (News - Alert) network, which made its debut in almost 40 markets early in December 2010. The new LTE network is able to provide downlink speeds of 5 Mbps to 12 Mbps, and its latency, according to Verizon (News - Alert), is 50 percent that of the company’s 3G services.

The LTE network covers about one-third of the population of the United States, including Verizon’s major markets along the East Coast, in southern California and large Midwestern metropolitan areas, such as Chicago. Verizon has asserted that its 4G LTE service offers speed that is ten times the speed of its 3G network.

Verizon's LTE device lineup currently comprises two USB modems, the LG VL600 and the Pantech UML290. Verizon’s Tony Melone, chief technical officer, has said in the past month that the operator's first LTE smartphones would become available to consumers by the middle of 2011. It is reported that Verizon intends to expand its LTE network across its whole 3G footprint by 2013.

In addition, Verizon’s partnership with DIRECTV to bundle services has been generating a positive response, according to CEO Seidenberg in comments on January 4, 2011, at the Citi 21st Annual Global Entertainment, Media & Telecommunications Conference.