Verizon taps Gemalto for LTE components, G&D for SIM cards

Verizon Wireless said it will use Gemalto's over-the-air platform and microprocessor smart card to manage customer information exchanges on the carrier's forthcoming LTE network. The carrier also selected Giesecke & Devrient to provide Java-based SIM cards for the LTE network.

Gemalto's platform and microprocessor, known as a Universal Integrated Circuit Card (UICC), will support secure and reliable multimedia data connections and also will help provide global roaming, the company said. Specifically, the OTA platform will enable Verizon to manage devices on its network, and the UICC will support functions such as transferring contacts and preferences from one device to another.

Separately, Verizon said it will use Giesecke & Devrient for Java-based SIM cards, which the carrier said will allow it to provide "revolutionary data services" via LTE.

Roger Gurnani, Verizon's senior vice president of product development, recently said the carrier will have a couple of LTE test markets up and running by the end of 2009, and "30 or so" markets running in 2010, including commercial markets. Over the next two to three years, Verizon will build LTE across its entire footprint.

Verizon revealed its key LTE infrastructure vendors, including Alcatel-Lucent and Ericsson, during the Mobile World Congress trade show in Barcelona in February. Verizon's LTE buildout plans are some of the most aggressive in the world. In the United States, MetroPCS has said it will launch LTE in the second half of 2010 and AT&T Mobility has said it will launch LTE in 2011.

For more:
- see this Gemalto release
[1]- see this G&D release [2]

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