Verizon Wireless 'Flips' South Florida 'Super Switch'

MIAMI, March 10 /PRNewswire/ -- Verizon Wireless, which operates the nation's most reliable and largest voice and 3G data network, successfully "turned on" its new $50 million high-tech "super switch" in South Florida, which is designed to further strengthen wireless coverage and advanced services for customers throughout the region.

Early morning on Saturday, March 6, the facility began handling millions of calls and wireless data transmissions to and from Monroe and Miami-Dade counties.  In coming weeks the facility will add wireless traffic to and from Broward County.

The 45,000-square-foot Mobile Telephone Switching Office (MTSO), located in west Broward County, is replacing an older switch facility located in Fort Lauderdale.

With a comprehensive array of the most advanced wireless network technologies, the new  MTSO has the capacity to handle each day tens of millions of voice calls and wireless data transmissions, such as texts, photo and video messages; downloads of games, music and other applications; uploads to social media sites; web surfing, and more.

"The cutover of wireless traffic has been seamless to customers, because our network teams have been working so long and hard on this," said Frank Wise, Florida executive network director for Verizon Wireless. "It was a big moment to celebrate for our teams, and for millions of customers and calls, when the switch powered on."

In addition to the latest technologies within, the building was designed to withstand a Category 5 hurricane.  The structure includes fully redundant back-up power generation, further enhancing the emergency and everyday reliability of the Verizon Wireless network.  The switch will serve as the company's Emergency Operations Center for South Florida in the event of a hurricane or other crisis.

"The completion and activation of this new facility gives our company, and more importantly our customers, even greater reliability here in South Florida," said Pam Tope, Florida region president for Verizon Wireless. "From a technical, customer service and public safety perspective, the new facility is a great advance."

The project is a key component of the company's overall effort and investment to maintain the largest and most reliable 3G network in the state.  In the past year, the company has spent $240 million in Florida on network enhancements.

This year, Verizon Wireless plans to launch its 4G Long Term Evolution (LTE) wireless services in 25 to 30 markets nationally. LTE will offer customers significantly greater network capacity than even today's most advanced 3G coverage.  The new South Florida switch is fully equipped to play a major role when the company's LTE network is launched here.

For more information on the Verizon Wireless network, products and services, visit www.verizonwireless.com.

About Verizon Wireless

Verizon Wireless operates the nation's most reliable and largest wireless voice and 3G data network, serving more than 91 million customers.  Headquartered in Basking Ridge, N.J., with 85,000 employees nationwide, Verizon Wireless is a joint venture of Verizon Communications (NYSE: VZ) and Vodafone (Nasdaq and LSE: VOD).  For more information, visit www.verizonwireless.com.  To preview and request broadcast-quality video footage and high-resolution stills of Verizon Wireless operations, log on to the Verizon Wireless Multimedia Library at www.verizonwireless.com/multimedia.

SOURCE Verizon Wireless