By: Jesse Cryderman

Verizon has the largest 4G LTE network in the US, but who has the fastest? According to PCWorld/TechHive, AT&T’s next-gen mobile network can claim the speediest signaling, while Verizon seems content to pursue an expansion strategy that helped it pull in $28.2 billion in mobile-data revenues in 2012. The top-ranked US wireless carrier is busy building additional macro stations and farming its recently acquired AWS spectrum for LTE; the Samsung Galaxy S4 will support Verizon’s highly anticipated AWS LTE network starting this summer in New York City.

Big Red also announced it will be deploying small cells from Ericsson and Alcatel-Lucent near the end of 2013 to enhance its plans for a heterogeneous network, or HetNet. “Small cells will play a role in the Verizon Wireless strategy to add capacity in high-traffic locations and provide the best customer experience possible,” said Mike Haberman, the company’s vice president of network support, in a press release issued by Ericsson.

At CTIA 2013 in Las Vegas last month, Verizon launched a new brand, Viva Móvil, that’s focused solely on Latino users. It was introduced at the conference by none other than its new spokesperson, the ever-entrepreneurial Jennifer Lopez, who seems to be pulling a big chair up to the telecommunications table: she was recently named chief creative officer of NUVOtv, a cable network geared toward Latinos, and she’ll be speaking at The Cable Show 2013 broadband conference in Washington, D.C., on June 12.

Meanwhile, at Management World in Nice, France, vendor news didn’t struggle for air in a celebrity vacuum. NetCracker announced deals with Sprint and Deutsche Telekom, Comarch’s M2M platform was picked up by Telekom Austria, Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN) declared a victory in Kuwait for customer experience management (CEM), and Orga Systems expanded its role in Chile with Entel. Other big stories included Tekelec’s advanced policy analytics and the extension of policy control to the device, and Tata Communications’s innovative new products.

Coopetition and partnerships

In the US wireless market, consolidation is the predominant game plan at the moment, but in Europe coopetition and partnerships underlie recent developments. It makes sense: the European market is fragmented, managed by more than 20 separate state regulators, so until a unified Euro-network strategy is in place (but don’t hold your breath), communications service providers (CSPs) are on their own to craft deals that let them control the cost of roaming and tap into each other’s resources.

Vodafone and Deutsche Telekom partnered in late May to advance next-gen network development; the deal will permit Vodafone to offer high-speed terrestrial broadband and IPTV (internet protocol-based television) to customers in Germany. And Russian CSP MegaFon became the latest addition to Telefonica’s Partners Program when it signed a cooperative agreement with the telco last month. The program includes operators such as China Unicom and Telecom Italia, who have much greater capability and reach together than they would on their own. Telefónica also finalized an agreement with Samsung to integrate its carrier-billing service into the leading device manufacturer’s smartphones.