Verizon Wireless is planning to launch a new, faster version of their push-to-talk service over its 3G network this summer, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal that cites the carrier's director of business marketing, Michael Willsey. The carrier has offered PTT for almost five years.

The news follows MetroPCS' launch of a PTT service that allows users to connect to subscribers on any network if they use a specific MetroPCS PTT phone. The service turns the phone of the user on the receiving end into a temporary walkie-talkie.

According to Gartner, there are 26 million subscribers to the most popular version of PTT, iDEN. Sprint Nextel counts 19 million of those subs as its own.

For more on the PTT trend:
- read this article about Verizon Wireless' 3G PTT