Massive capacity increases have caused big changes to the habits of customers. That’s according to new data from Verizon that breaks down how customers have behaviorally reacted to the company’s multi-year network upgrades.

 

While Verizon’s efforts to transform their network remain ongoing, a recent statement on the company’s website reported some noteworthy milestones they’ve attained thus far.

 

The company said as 5G data use increases, there is a correlated decrease of volume on their 4G network. Only 56 percent of Verizon’s data traffic runs across the company’s 4G network, which is down sharply from over 80 percent a year ago.

 

Verizon noted that 5G traffic using C-band spectrum makes up more than 38 percent of data usage on their network, up from only 14 percent a year ago. The company also said they’ve redesigned the core of their network “to function in a cloud-native environment.”

 

Verizon said the massive speed and capacity increases have encouraged customers to use more “exponentially more data.” 

 

A year after the launch of 5G, Verizon logged 24 percent of their customers as using 5G devices. Today, Verizon reports more than 68 percent of customers possessing 5G capable phones.

In total, Verizon said the company has introduced 5G service to more than 230 million customers. They’ve also expanded fixed 5G wireless access to over 40 million households and deployed over 57,000 miles of fiber since 2020, according to the company’s Sept. 26 release.

 

Joe Russo, Verizon’s EVP and CEO of Global Network Technology, said the past few years have been “tremendously dynamic” for the company.

“These changes mean more people can do more things in more places more reliably, and that’s what we’re all about as a company,” he said.

 

During the transformation of Verizon’s network, Russo said the company remains focused on introducing a host of advanced technologies to improve the customer experience.

One such technology involves providing better capacity to sites that host major events, like sports stadiums. Verizon said 76 percent of pro-sports venues have been upgraded with 5G Ultra-Wideband service, which can support higher data traffic.

As of August, the company reported an average increase of 400,000 home internet adds per quarter, with 2.5 million customers using roughly 300 GB of data per month.