Verizon boosts investment in Florida to accommodate recent massive, pandemic-related influx of people
May 16 2022 - 11:00AM
Since the beginning of the pandemic, Florida has seen people flock
to the state, drawn to the unbeatable weather and friendly
hospitality, the family fun in the many theme parks throughout the
state, and the miles and miles of beautiful coastline. Verizon is
responding to Florida’s exponential and unexpected population
increase by allocating an additional $149 million to its local
capital spending to meet skyrocketing demands on the network.
From January 2020 to April of this year, more than a quarter of
a million Verizon wireless customers have moved to Florida, and
data traffic has spiked. Since January 2020, busy-hour traffic in
Miami has increased 364%, in Tampa it has increased 135%, in
Orlando 408%, in West Palm Beach 165%, in Fort Myers 173% and in
Collier busy-hour traffic has increased an astounding 257%, and
Glades 271%.
“We are used to seeing seasonal increases in population in
Florida and have always accommodated those temporary fluctuations
with temporary network assets to add capacity at various times of
the year,” said Kyle Malady, EVP and President, Global Networks and
Technology. “With the evolution of the distributed workforce
resulting from the pandemic, we’re seeing more people permanently
change locations to Florida, and other places. Experiencing the
impact of this influx, we revised our forecasting models and are
pouring additional capital into the state to grow our coverage and
capacity to meet the increased demands.”
Recent and ongoing network expansion
Massive investments the last two years have added much needed
capacity to the network, particularly in the Miami and Tampa
markets where Super Bowl preparation efforts have accelerated
network expansions. In 2020 and 2021, Verizon invested over $1
billion in the state of Florida. That investment was used to expand
4G LTE capacity, introduce and grow Verizon’s 5G Ultra Wideband
service, prepare for Super Bowls in Tampa and Miami, prepare for
Formula One racing in Miami, and support first responders and the
community in natural disaster recovery efforts.
Consistent capital investments based on consumer usage growth
models are critical in order to stay ahead of demand. The increase
of more than a quarter million devices has shifted those investment
models, so in addition to the annual capital expenditure budgets
allocated for Florida, Verizon will invest $149 million above and
beyond its annual CapEx to meet the growing needs.
Investments over the next two years will include building more
than 3,500 new network solutions including new macro towers, small
cell sites and repeaters to increase 4G LTE capacity and coverage,
expanding 5G Ultra Wideband service in areas where 5G currently is
and to new markets throughout Florida, expanding the underlying
fiber footprint that carries data throughout the network and
supporting Floridians and first responders in the upcoming
hurricane season. Verizon will also enhance coverage at major
population centers and gathering places including Disney World,
Orange County Convention Center, and Amalie Arena. Many of these
projects could take 12-24 months to bring online, so in the
meantime, Florida engineers have deployed long-term temporary
assets to address the skyrocketing demands in the sunshine
state.
Verizon remains keenly focused on Florida and providing a highly
reliable network to meet the growing needs in the state. This
investment builds on the company’s network-as-a-service foundation
and supports its core areas of growth and innovation across its
mobile network.
Media contact: Karen
Schulz864.561.1527Karen.Schulz@verizon.com
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