Report: Verizon unveiling dozens of LTE partners at CES

Verizon Wireless (NYSE:VZ) will unveil four dozen LTE partners as part of an announcement of LTE smartphones and tablets at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this week, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal.

The report, citing an anonymous source, said Verizon will announce smartphones from HTC, Motorola (NYSE:MOT) and Samsung, and at least one LTE tablet. Verizon has previously disclosed that Motorola will be one of its first LTE smartphone partners, and leaked photos of LTE phones from HTC and Samsung appeared on the Web last month. All of the devices will run Google's (NASDAQ:GOOG) Android platform, the report said. Verizon indicated last month it will unveil Android-based LTE devices, likely at a keynote Verizon Communications CEO Ivan Seidenberg is scheduled to give Jan. 6.

A Verizon spokesman did not deny or dispute any of the information in the Journal article.

According to the WSJ report, Verizon will showcase at CES its LTE partners including smartphone makers, chipset vendors and consumer electronics companies. The carrier also will demonstrate LTE applications such as video and, via a General Motors car with OnStar, navigation offerings. However, such offerings are not expected to be made available to consumers until later in the year.

Verizon currently offers 5 GB of LTE data for $50 per month or 10 GB of data for $80 per month on either a two-year contract or a no-contract basis; both options carry a $10 per GB overage charge. The service currently is only available via USB modems. Verizon has not yet announced how it will price LTE data for smartphones.

For more:
- see this WSJ article (sub. req.)

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