Verizon Gives Microsoft Windows Phone LTE Ultimatum

Verizon has thrown down the gauntlet to Microsoft and demanded LTE smartphones, arguing that 4G is essential if the carrier is to continue to offer Windows Phone devices on its network. "We've communicated to Microsoft that LTE is critical to us," Verizon CMO Marni Walden told CNET, suggesting that time was of the essence if Windows Phone wanted the continued support of the big CDMA carrier.

"We need to see a timeline that makes sense if we want to continue to represent them" Walden concluded, saying that the two companies continue to work together on 4G and other matters, but declining to mention any specifics. The Verizon LTE network celebrated its one year anniversary this week.

Microsoft has previously confirmed that LTE was on its roadmap, with smartphone chief Any Lees saying back in October that the company and its carrier partners were looking at how 4G support could be built into Windows Phone in an sensible way. "The first LTE phones were big and big [users] of the battery," Lees highlighted at the time. "I think it's possible to do it in a way that is far more efficient, and that's what we will be doing."

Unfortunately Lees also declined to give any indication of timings for the first LTE models, though it looks unlikely that a manufacturer will have any on the market before the end of the year.

[via Neowin]