Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Good afternoon. My name is Karen Schulz, and we're here today to talk about Verizon Frontline, the Verizon network and solutions for first responders. We have a great panel prepared for you today, and we hope it spurs good conversation. We welcome questions about our topic, any topic, and we'll answer as many as we can following the presentation. [Operator Instructions] Please also be aware that today's session is being recorded and will be available on demand -- for on-demand viewing. You'll be notified by e-mail when that archive is available. Verizon has a very active public sector business, which supports federal, state, local and educational agencies and organizations with connectivity, security and the technologies they need to serve their constituents. If you're unfamiliar with Verizon Frontline, it's a manifestation of 30 years working hand in hand with public safety agencies on the front lines to develop and bring to market the technology first responders need to perform their jobs more safely and efficiently. More than 37,000 public safety agencies trust Verizon Frontline for reliable connectivity. That's more than any other provider. We're committed to delivering the most reliable 5G network for first responders and government agencies today while helping them build for the future. And we take this commitment seriously because we know that the massive bandwidth and ultra-low latency of 5G really matters to first responders and those in federal and state and local governments. So in fact, one of the main takeaways from our most recent public safety survey was that of nearly 2,000 respondents, close to 80%, 80% felt 5G would be either a top or an important priority for their agencies in the future. And as you've likely heard before, 5G is powering an exciting era of innovation. Joining me today to talk about how 5G and technology are helping drive change in business, government and public safety are 3 industry experts in the area of 5G and technology: Eric Lia, Senior Vice President of Network Engineering at Verizon; Bryan Schromsky, Managing Partner of 5G Public Sector; and Earl Struble, Associate Director of Verizon Frontline Crisis Response for the South region. Thank you all for being here with us. Before we get into our discussion, I want to give each of you a chance to talk a little about your background. So Eric, why don't we start with you?

Sure. Thanks, Karen. Good afternoon, everyone. Excited to be here today and have the opportunity to talk to you all about our 5G network and what it's going to bring to the public sector. My background, currently, Senior Vice President in Engineering, about 27 years in the business. I'm responsible today for our major programs. I'm responsible for the power space and cooling infrastructure of Verizon's network that's out there and also our third-party access infrastructure and the fiber infrastructure we have. I've spent a lot of my career in the planning side of the business, the engineering, and I've been with 5G for the last 5 years trying to roll out this one. Excited.

Thank you. Bryan?

Hey, Karen, it's good to see you, and thanks for the opportunity here to speak with these fine people here and talk a little bit about our technology. My name is Bryan Schromsky. I lead our 5G solution architect team here in Verizon. And similar to Eric, I've been here a long time going on my 25 -- 25th year here at Verizon, which is awesome and working with [indiscernible] in these past couple of years as well. My background here is working with federal, state and local agencies and developing solutions and integrating with our network capabilities that we have today. I apologize, I'm not sitting in my office. I'm actually in the field down here with our DoD brothers and sisters down here in Norfolk, Virginia. So very excited to be here and look forward to the panel discussion.

The work never stops. Thanks, Bryan. And Earl?

Yes. Good day, everybody. Once again, Earl Struble. I'm the Associate Director for the Crisis Response team in the South. I manage a group of amazing individuals in 12 states in the South, all touching quality oceanfront property, which means we deal seasonally with a lot of hurricanes and severe weather in the South. I think I've tagged now about 32 hurricanes I've been directly or indirectly involved with. I'm also proud to say that I'm part of the NC 911 Board. So I help drive technology decisions in the state to support our first responders who makes -- who received that phone call sometimes when people are in urgent need. So happy to be here. I'm looking forward to share information, and I'm talking about 5G. Thanks.

Thanks, Earl. Okay. So let's jump in. As I mentioned earlier, we're living at a time of really impressive growth in the area of technology and innovation. And a lot of that growth is powered by 5G connectivity. So it's not at all surprising that 5G is on the top of everyone's tongue these days. Eric, let's start with you. Could you tell us why 5G matters so much as we look at new innovations and solutions for the public sector?

Sure. Thanks. Listen, 5G matters because it's really shifting the perception of what is possible. We've been using the latest technologies and platforms to deploy the most technologically advanced 5G network that's virtual from the core out to the edge. We're taking our 5G spectrum holdings, a new advanced core, new capabilities from 5G, we're able to create a whole new round of innovations. This is why we've been partnering with companies like Disney, New York Times, Team Penske, Corning, the NFL, the DoD, as we just heard people out in the field there with them and Axon, just to name a few. And what we're doing is developing innovations and solutions that are going to transform their businesses and consumer experiences. We've also been working with a whole set of start-ups, academic institutions and tech leaders to drive an understanding of what 5G can really offer. And we're starting to see developments in things like autonomous cars, smart communities, public sector solutions and immersive education as a few examples. The bottom line is 5G matters so much because the capabilities it's unlocking, they extend across almost every user group and industry. There really isn't a space that this technology won't have an impact on in the coming years.

That's great, Eric, and let's stay with you for a minute here. As many of you have probably read, Verizon's network has been undergoing a massive transformation. So can you tell us a little bit about some of the changes that are affecting the public sector solutions because of these network transformations?

Sure. Look, no doubt, we've been undergoing a massive network transformation over the last few years. And it's not just a multiyear network transformation we're talking about or undertaking, but we're really touching all the layers of our network, as I mentioned just a moment ago. We're doing this not only to stay ahead of the exponential data usage increases, but also so that we can pave the way for personalized customer experiences and build a platform really for enterprises and developers to drive new innovations. Let's talk a little bit about the platform and what we've accomplished so far. From a spectrum perspective, we've got industry-leading depth of spectrum, 2,000 -- over 2,000 megahertz of spectrum now. We've taken our recently acquired C-Band spectrum, and we've been aggressively deploying it over the last few years. We're past 230 million people. We've expanded our fixed wireless Internet product across 40 million households. And we've upgraded over 76% of the pro sport venues with our 5G Ultra Wideband service already. We also have millimeter wave spectrum, which is a critical differentiator for 5G innovations. And we've deployed that in the highest usage areas of our major cities and in the largest stadiums and venues around the country. But that's just on our spectrum. If we look at it from a fiber perspective, over the last 4 years, we've deployed 57,000 miles of fiber. And now 51% of our sites are connected on our own fiber network. And then our core, we have a redesigned virtualized core running on our own cloud platform with next-generation automation and orchestration capabilities. We've begun to deploy 5G standalone services, and we're starting to see these things really take off. All in all, these things are leading to faster service delivery, more resiliency, less downtime for the customer, overall improved performance. And these things are all critical for all of our customers, but even more so for our public sector partners.

Eric, that's a lot of changes. So one more for you, and then I want to bring Bryan and Earl back into the conversation. What do all of these massive changes in the network allow us to do?

Yes, it's going to be a lot, but let's talk about what we're seeing so far and then what's to come. So initially, it allows us to use our network resources more efficiently, improves performance and increases capacity for all of our customers that are out there. But that's just the tip of the iceberg. It's the new services and customizations that are going to deliver the real gains, and we're just starting to see some of them emerge. For example, fixed wireless access, network slicing, wide-scale IoT and private networks, just to name a few. Fixed wireless access. Let's talk about this for a second. This is one of the first products that we see being enabled and really growing a steady growth out there. We're seeing over 400,000 net adds per quarter in the broadband space, and most of them are coming from fixed wireless access. Not only are we seeing growth here from this that 5G-enabled. But our product is a real formidable competitor to traditional home broadband in all these new markets throughout the country now, now that we've rolled out 5G Ultra Wideband. Another area is private networks. But more importantly, we're beginning to see more and more actual deployments. For example, we deployed coach-to-coach communications for the NFL this year, and that went great. It was in the Super Bowl and great experiences for them and a great example of what you can do with a private network in a critical spot. Network slicing. Look, probably the biggest thing that most people are talking about with 5G is really network slicing. This is a capability that's going to offer unprecedented levels of service agility, flexibility, automated scalability to our customers. And again, it's not just a conceptual idea. We're starting to see more technical trials like the one we did with Axon and their Fleet 3 and car video systems for law enforcement. We proved with the network slice we can improve the performance of the service for our law enforcements and our first responders that count on this. Again, these are just a small set of examples of what the transformation is, can and will enable. But back to what I said earlier, 5G is shifting the perception of what is possible. And what we're going to see is so many more innovations in the coming years.

That's great, Eric. Thank you for that exceptional overview and for your insights in how Verizon is prepared to deliver for our public sector customers, both now and in the future. I'd like to dig in a little deeper into some specific examples. So Bryan, let's start with you. We've already heard a lot this morning about power 5G and what it could enable in the public sector and beyond. Can you share some real-world examples of how 5G is helping government and public safety agencies to really unlock some of those new capabilities today and also how you're seeing those capabilities used in the field?

Yes. So just to build off what Eric said, I'll break it down on some of the lower level, right? So from some of those bigger brand names if you need, right? So one of the areas that we're actually doing today, if you look at fixed wireless access and having a better experience on 5G. We'll look at something like Indian Health Services, right, where we're actually able to deliver connectivity to really remote areas and actually offer a broadband experience, right, in terms of health care and public safety workers, right? If we look at traditional law enforcement or public safety, a lot of the technology we use today, we're enhancing that with 5G. So as Eric mentioned, we're seeing a huge demand on our network, right? So we mentioned the Super Bowl. Just to give you an idea, our network traffic increased 10% year-over-year from this year's Super Bowl site from last year, but it increased overall 30% from 2 years ago when it was in Phoenix, right? So this year was more, but Phoenix was a 20% increase, right? So this time now, we're seeing a 30% network traffic just at one venue, right? You can imagine on the size and scope of our network why it's so important some of the new technologies that Eric talked about, things like virtualizing our network. So when we talk about that technology, how does that trickle down, right? So Indian Health Service is a perfect example. State and local and federal law enforcement using new technology like drone technology, actually controlling and using video from drones, right? Are you able to do that on 5G better than they can do on 4G. If we look at also public safety partners, not just Axon Flock Safety. Using things like license plate recognition on a new scale, right, getting that information as quickly as possible to those first responders. And then we look at other things. We look at work that we're doing with the Veterans Administration. Huge push for us, right, when it comes to connectivity for the men and women in the hospitals, but also remote health care. And that's where we really get excited about. So as the network department builds these great network for us to take advantage of, what are those use cases as you're asking about, Karen? Those are just a couple. But one thing I want to mention as well, right, as the network transforms and we offer these new services, we're starting to see greater adoption of 5G, not just because of the use cases, but something that gets quite overlooked is actually having 5G-enabled devices . You could build a great network. But unless you actually have those devices that connect to the network and support those new services, there's a problem there. And what we saw when we first launched and this is going to sound weird, 5 years ago 5G in only 2 markets on April 3, 2019. It was Chicago, Minneapolis. We are much larger than we are now. But most importantly, we have a greater ecosystem. So it's just beyond the smartphones, right? Fixed wireless access, as Eric mentioned. If you take advantage of by not just 1 or 2 devices, but literally dozens of different devices depending on the configuration concerns or requirements that federal, state and local agencies need on their day-to-day operations. So those are just some of the use cases, but I also want to -- it always gets overlooked. It's actually having that device ecosystem that can support a 5G network and some of those future services that Eric is mentioning as well.

Yes. That's great, Bryan. That's a lot of different use cases. I think that really shows the transformative power of 5G. It's already being used to develop some pretty innovative solutions. But what's most intriguing, at least to me, is what yet -- what's yet to come. So Bryan, what are you most excited about when it comes to 5G and our public sector customers in the future? And what impact, do you think, this will have on their day-to-day operations, whether it's in government or in public safety?

For me, personally, I think one of the things, and it was mentioned earlier, right, now with our C-Band and having all of that spectrum to actually have that 5G Ultra Wide experience, which includes our C-Band technologies, the spectrum we use there in conjunction with our millimeter wave, right? Personally, myself, where I get excited is I think you're going to see resurgence of 5G millimeter wave in certain areas, having breadth and scope of 5G Ultra Wideband powered by C-Band is just going to give exposure. And actually a lot of folks -- and that's why you see the numbers that Eric mentioned and adoption of the technology. But if you ask we say, all right, "What's the cool thing?" The slicing is very interesting, right? As Eric mentioned, my team working with network did the trial with Axon, which is a leading provider to public safety agencies. In the trial, we actually did a press release on this. You can read more about it. But we actually did that trial in a public safety event during the World Series is one of the scenarios that we actually did there. We actually did it at a live World Series game in Downtown Phoenix, right? So it's not just an isolated lab or a remote area. We actually did this test in a live environment and a very concentrated environment with a very large public safety involvement as well, which is very exciting. So the slicing capability is the ability to actually meet the needs depending on what the customer wants and not have it just static. It's going to be a more dynamic environment, right, where not only can I have broadband service, but what level of broadband, right? Can induce certain things, certain API integration into our network that we couldn't really do before. We did some layers, obviously, but more integration into the enterprise or agency's network and filling their particular needs, right? Because as Eric mentioned, you're starting to see the blur between mobility and traditional trust yield networks, right? As we know it in Verizon and a lot of people are attending here, and as I sit in a car and do this webinar, right, we live in a mobile-first environment, right? I think on top of private wireless networks, you're going to see a resurgence, and we see this, obviously, with the infrastructure build and there's some of the projects I'm working on right now, we're going to see more in-building coverage, right? There's an expectation if I take this webinar call here, I drive to the office, I drive to the [indiscernible]. I drive into the garage, I get into the elevator, I go up to my office. The expectation is they don't drop the call, right? Now we have a great macro network. It's integrating that macro network to internal locations. I think it's going to be the next thing that we're really going to see in the next couple of years.

That's very exciting. Earlier, Eric touched on a couple of things, but I want to explore a little bit further as well, Bryan, private 5G Ultra Wideband in mobile edge compute. Can you touch on some of the benefits of a private 5G network and mobile edge compute along with what fixed wireless access can help enable specifically for the public sector?

Yes. So we'll break it down. So our private wireless network in essence is actually it's a custom-built solution, our custom-built network depending on the agency's needs, right? So depending on the application. So if you're talking about robotics, drone operations over a large area, actually being purpose-built and putting the radios in the network where the customer wants or the agency actually wants it is what we're talking to private wireless network. So it gives the ability for an agency or a business to actually have a core on site so we have a private wireless network. So think your cell sites, your radio access network, if you will, is being built out. And it's actually connected to a local core, right? So that local core actually connects that network. No different than we do on the macro network today. But then you can run your application local. So it's not only giving high bandwidth, high speed from an RF or spectrum efficiency, right? It's also moving the application closer to that particular use case. So that application will actually talk to the core and actually right next to what will be edge compute, as you mentioned, mobile edge compute. That's what it is, right? So for those applications, think robotics, think about connecting a drone, some work that we're doing right now. There's some RFPs out right now. How do we get high speed connectivity at 200 miles an hour, right? These are the things that we're talking about. And just for common, even though my beloved Eagles didn't make it to the Super Bowl this year, as Eric mentioned, that NFL coach-to-coach communications. So think about that. So every NFL coach, the men and women on both sidelines actually have a private network running. So all of the tablets that you see, the headsets on the coaches, the assistants as well as talking to the booths for the coaches that don't reside on the sideline, that is actually all traversing through a private network. And in some cases, that's mobile because not every NFL state franchise or -- owns the actual stadium, right? So that is designed to roll in and do comms, very applicable to law enforcement, right, where, as you know, tactical special events. We're seeing more interest around a private network, where we can isolate spectrum and allocate it to that private network. And then where mobile edge compute come in is actually those particular applications that the agency wants to run is actually co-located into that core, which is very exciting.

That is all very exciting innovations that are being enabled by the evolution of 5G. I want to come back to that. But for the moment, I want to take things in a little bit of a different direction and talk about how 5G impacts the area of emergency response. Earl, I'm going to bring you in here. Your team works hand-in-hand with first responders on the front lines under conditions, both routine and extreme, supporting them during everything from training exercises, which I understand you had down in Mississippi this week to hurricane response. Can you talk a little bit about the communications challenges first responders face during large-scale events or gatherings or during emergency response operations? And how the capacity of the 5G network can really help them mitigate some of those challenges?

Yes, certainly. Many times, emergency response, first responders are bringing in their applications that they use on blue sky days into whatever notice or no notice event. Whether it's, as I mentioned earlier, hurricane that impacts a coastal region or a search and rescue that happens in the mountains. And historically, they've always experienced something in effect of network congestion. Some sort of compromised network, if you will, if you will, limited bandwidth and the need for real-time data. And so when they're bringing their -- on a blue sky, they're using those applications. Just like Bryan mentioned earlier, there is a heavy expectation that they can still utilize what they've trained on and the environment that is now a little bit more duress. So 5G gives us those higher data speeds. 5G gives us -- them, excuse me, the lower latency, if you will, and that increased network capacity. It gives them more reliable comms. It gives first responders the ability to share critical intel and information, high-resolution videos like Bryan mentioned earlier and location data in real time. This is crucial, obviously, for coordinating efforts. That's what emergency response is doing. It's coordinating efforts to help save people and making informed -- improving the situational awareness during emergencies. At the end of the day, also it allows more first responders to come into an area and not be worried about devices impacting a certain location, if you will. So it just overall gives them the quality of what they practice on in a duress environment, that quality of work, that quality of and capability of getting the job done, no matter if it's a blue sky day or dark sky day.

And really no situation more -- with more variables, more dynamic than that situation. Let's talk a little bit more about emergency response for a minute because there really is no better example of the importance of reliable mission-critical communications than a crisis situation. So what lessons have you learned during your responses to emergencies as far as the role of technology and response? And how do you feel the evolution of technology impacts how first responders are preparing for, but also responding to emergencies today? And if you have any examples, we'd love to hear those.

Certainly, yes. I mean at the end of the day, it's one state in North Carolina I'm very familiar with. Their motto is for the ESF 2 communications sector is no comms, no battle. So improved communications is always the key that 5G can bring to bear to help first responders communicate in real time. Use those mobile apps like I mentioned, integrate more with those mobile apps. Data analytics -- analysis and excuse me, yes, and decision making in the field, if you will. That predictive analytics, if you will, key how can we get real-time mapping down to a joint operation center where it might take hours or days to spin a satellite into a certain area. Now we can get real-time mapping using 5G at the edge, if you will, and bring in that data in quickly. Using AI to, in essence, with all that data that you can get now. How to use some sort of AI capability to help provide additional analytics to the data that you're getting. All that is based around and fueling, if you will, data-driven decision-making, right? That's key to the success of emergency operations. Bryan mentioned drone and robotics. We're practicing it in depth, what we call -- utilized from our innovation team, RED, our robotics emergency dog. And so it's a, in essence, a terrestrial dog, robotic dog that we can send down range. And we applied different sensors on that dog to bring back, "Hey, is this a safe place to go where now a human can go in," that was testing -- sniffing the air, if you will, and picking up radiological evidence that may be something that was impacting that area. So setting something down range and getting that data back, whether it's terrestrial or aerial like a UAS drone, if you will. Wearable tech. If you haven't heard about ATAK, iTAC, Team Awareness Kits, that's becoming a heavy implemented solution where not only can you find out and give commands through a wearable device, but you can also get health information in that person as well to make sure they're in a good place. Once again, 5G can help enhance that. Augmented reality. We just -- almost 700 people at PATRIOT 24. But we had some sort of augmented reality. 5G can help, in essence, with home-based training. I could be sitting in my chair, Bryan could be sitting in his car and use some sort of virtual reality aspect of training to once again enhance the capabilities of our first responders. And at the end of all this, there's also social media. Social media is critical for emergency response in that you get that sort of sense of what's truly going on. You can use that data, gather real-time information from the public during emergencies so you get valuable information at the time of crisis. That's ground-based. That's sort of crowd-sourced, if you will. So all that -- all those capabilities, I'm truly excited about that 5G will bring to bear to help first responders respond better.

That's great, Earl. Thank you for that. I want to leave plenty of time for questions. I see several of them coming in from the audience. [Operator Instructions] We're going to leave plenty of time for that. But before we move on to the question-and-answer session here, I want to ask just one last public safety focused question. So Earl, as public safety communications have evolved to include implementation of things like we've discussed today, first responders have begun to use more and more connected devices on a regular basis. What sort of advantages does this technology provide public safety professionals, particularly in the areas of safety and efficiency? And what are your partners in public safety telling you that they're looking for to in the future?

Yes. It's pretty simple actually. I mean obviously, more 5G integration. The more we can get connected devices or connected solutions on devices, what became -- more information that can come to a first responder -- base camp jock, if you will, that integration is going to be key to their success, enhance their communications and once again help them make data decisions, if you will. We talked -- I talked already about AI and machine learning. That is a growing focus once again, taking that vast amounts of data, having predictive insights into that data. IoT expansion, it does not always have to be a cell phone or a MiFi device. Smaller data-driven solutions placed on sensor format, once again, can help bring that data back to our first responders to give them better situation awareness out in the field. Drone tech. We can't say enough about it. Search and rescue, infrared capabilities for finding lost people in the woods, if you will, or in a class hotel. Just advanced sensors, if you will, being put in places where maybe the human body can't go. And then at the end of it as well, cybersecurity. So Bryan talked extensively about 5G private network. It's shown to be much more secure than a lot of the networks that the local and county offices put up for their employees to, in essence, get on to a network. It's been shown that, that is not the most protected way to get access to a network, and it's being infiltrated every day. And then at the end of the day, I think interoperability is a big portion of that. We talked about voice interoperability, but now there's data interoperability. How can we share across the expensiveness of different devices and solutions, how can you bring that data in into one common platform, one common operating picture, if you will, to once again have success out in the field?

That's great. Thank you. Thank you, Earl. I do want to save the rest of the time that we have for Q&A. But before we start that Q&A, I just want to thank Eric, Bryan and Earl for sharing their insights on how we can best take advantage of the transformative power of 5G and everything that it can enable for government and for public safety agencies.

We'll start now in the question-and-answer. So Bryan and Eric, I'm going to bring you back in here with Earl. [Operator Instructions] Eric, I'm going to start with you. There are several questions that have come in about 5G standalone, folks asking what 5G standalone is, where we are and how that's going to impact public sector. So can you tell us a little bit about 5G standalone?

Sure. Do my best. Thanks, Karen. So 5G standalone, so our new core that we're deploying is from 5G, the next-generation network that's out there. Our 4G core was great. It was great for the LTE network we had. But with all the capabilities coming with 5G, we really needed to deploy a new advanced core. Standalone just allows us to operate our wireless network on that core without a linkage back to 4G core. Once you start to get into 5G standalone core and once that's fully enabled for us, really, that's where we're starting to open up all these next-gen features, network slicing, any other capabilities that come with it. We'll have a lot more feature sets on there. You hear us talking about some APIs being deployed that are going to give people access and developers access into the network to control it. And we really get faster speeds. I saw one of the questions in there, a question about, "Is VoNR required for the SA core?" It's not required for us to deploy it. We will have VoNR in the future. We're working through our trials and it's -- that technology is under development. And we want to make sure we transition to it when we think we're in the proper position that we think we can offer a better service for voice over the network. Right now, I think a lot of our use cases are very data-focused. Data has grown so much and the things that we just heard from the others on the panel here. It's a lot about video. It's a lot about IoT. It's a lot about data. It's a lot about what we're doing it. I don't want to say voice is not important. Voice is critical in the public safety space. It's critical for our mass market customers. But there are so many data use cases out there that we're really starting to explore. So the core will be deployed. Standalone will be launched. We will have applications running across that from a data perspective before we get into VoNR.

Great. Thank you, Eric. We have a question here. Bryan, I'm going to bring you back in for this one. Do you feel that private 5G and the use of AI can create a more secure network specifically for health care?

Great question. The answer is yes. Actually, we do have -- if you want to see AR/VR in a private network, we actually have a public release document that created that we participate in with the Veterans Administration, specifically at the Palo Alto Hospital, where we actually use an AR/VR application as well as a private network to do so, right? So the answer is yes, right? We've done some work ourselves where you look at remote worker, next generation so in the spirit and luckily, I'm not like a mirror [indiscernible] here, but the Navy is quiet today when their jet's taking off. But some of the examples we actually did, some demonstrations with the DoD specifically, was actually using partnerships with some of our premier partners, that actually put next-generation goggles on an individual or he or she could actually do mechanical work, right? So they can actually -- in terms of training in this scenario here that we did was actually deconstructing a landing gear, right? So -- and streaming that information to somebody that was actually on site and the work are actually showing. So putting the goggles on along the flight line and then remotely connecting in where an expert that had more tenure in a particular equipment can actually do it, right? So yes, we actually do see it happening in an AI standpoint. And as it was mentioned, we're doing some work not just on the public safety, but something that you can see near and dear. We're doing a lot of work with the NFL and some concessions, right, where you actually have cashless checkouts, right? You're starting to see these pop up. We're doing a lot of work there. We were actually using AI, obviously, for theft prevention. Actually using those cameras in conjunction with mobile edge compute. So you have the AI running in that [ MEC ] environment, talking to the cameras, if you will, and actually it's over a private wireless network. So you're going to see more of that. One of the things that -- you hear about all this technology, right? And my now going to my 25th year, never before do we have a portfolio from a carrier standpoint that we can meet the needs, right? So when you can do things, as Eric mentioned, we could actually run AI through the commercial network. We're colocated -- our [ MEC ] space is actually co-located in our -- we call them service access points, right, the old mid cells, right, the mobile telephone switch offices, right? Actually, Amazon sits in there. So we can actually run an AI application and connect on the commercial network through our frontline services, eventually through our private network slice in conjunction with the mobile private network, right? Some of that stuff we had, now we can make it even better from a slicing technology using AI. But then on the other extreme is the question asked about AI and private wireless network, we can do purpose-built networks. Maybe there's not coverage there, you want specific coverage at a specific location. We can build to suits. We never really did that before, right, and actually having that capability. So one of the things people won't get really caught up on the technology, which is awesome and some of the SA questions, right? But at the end of the day, what is the problem we're trying to solve, right? And then we will work, my team. We, obviously, Earl and our network folks will actually come up with a solution and multiple solutions, right? Maybe you have a private wireless network because in a lot of cases, and mobile to mobile private networks that we're doing, for instance, not too far from here. One of our first private wireless network deployment, and some of the work they're looking to do is Virginia National Terminals, right? Very large area trying to cover multiple use cases. But in an area like that, the private wireless network will be in the ports. What happens when the individual goes home, right? Can they take that? So you're going to see dual-SIM capabilities, right? So outside the private wireless network, I'll have access applications. Inside the private wireless network, I'm going to have access to those applications, possibly more or restricted, right? And that's the beauty. And then you talk about what Verizon proper beyond mobility, right, is having all the fiber backhaul. How do we integrate into our intelligent engine network? So think more landline, right? That's when you look at somebody like Verizon, right? Having those capabilities, having the reputation of building great networks, but also more importantly, have multiple options. We never had this before, and that's where I get excited about this. So private wireless networking and AI goes hand-in-hand, but it also goes hand-in-hand with our commercial network as well.

That's great. Thanks, Bryan. Eric, I'm going to bring you back in for a minute here. We have a question on millimeter wave spectrum. The question is, we haven't seen many millimeter wave deployments yet. Do you anticipate fixed wireless access emerging as a primary application to drive millimeter wave deployments?

Sure. Good question. Look, I'll say no. We actually have -- looking at fixed wireless access today of what we have out there. We have far more customers not on millimeter wave. I don't see that being the dominant use case for millimeter wave. It was one of the first use cases we rolled out because we pushed the industry to deploy standards for millimeter wave before they were written. And we deployed nonindustry standard requirements, in order to get 5G technology rolling before others did. But look, certainly, it supports fixed wireless access. It won't be the dominant use case. I think Bryan was just talking about AR/VR. I think Earl mentioned it as well. Look, those are going to be, I think, some of the use cases you're going to think more about whether it's for training, we talk about remote surgery or supportive of remote surgery. You can do these augmented reality, very low latency, combine these with the private networks. Those are going to be the dominant use cases. When customers and enterprises come to us and give us a problem, that will be one of the differentiators that we apply. As far as being out in the dense downtown metro areas. It's great for capacity. There's broad capacity when there are large events, whether those events are planned or whether those events are unplanned, right? And we have a crisis, we have this huge depth of spectrum in these areas. So we know there are certain places in the cities that are the big grade routes. They really handle a tremendous amount of traffic. And a lot of that is really just mobile traffic. It's not fixed wireless. It's people wanting to stream video, people wanting to share data, people wanting to do experiences with AR and things of this nature. So I think the use cases around millimeter wave and I agree with Bryan, you'll see a resurgence on this. C-Band is a great spectrum for us. It has broad wide coverage. It actually gives us a nice, deep, fast layer. It goes wide. It covers on top of our millimeter wave. It allows us to connect together these low latent services that customers are really looking for. So long term, no, I don't think it's fixed wireless that's the dominant use case there. You'll begin to see the uses of it. More and more, we're kind of pushing the envelope in the big venues. Those are just areas that do test cases or in hospitals. Those are areas for us to do test cases and push the envelope. So millimeter wave is going to be used for a lot of other things.

Right. Excellent. Thank you, Eric. Earl, I'm going to bring you in here. We have a couple of questions about assets during emergencies, particularly related to mobile assets that we might move in to supplement the network where first responders are setting up for command centers or emergency operation centers. The question is, are those mobile assets now using 5G spectrum or relying primarily still on 4G spectrum?

Yes, it's a great question. Today, they are relying on 4G spectrum, but we're continually -- primarily, but we'll continue to enhance the capabilities of those mobile assets. A lot of the things that we roll on wheels, the way we integrate with our network still remains to be on 4G. But then we have a lot of portable assets that we bring in from a suitcase or a pelican case perspective that we can help augment the existing network and create 5G networks in smaller scale. But for the most part, whether it's our [indiscernible] for emergencies, that is mainly 4G. But when we deploy to larger events that Bryan and Eric both mentioned, those are going to be more 5G-enabled at this time. So we have a very dedicated team that our crisis response team that, in essence, respond to those notable events. And for the most part, those folks there are deploying 4G technology today.

Great. Thank you, Earl. Bryan, let's talk a little bit about alarm manufacturers. We have a question here about if Verizon will be working and deploying a communications network specifically for alarm manufacturers as well as for our first responders. Any thoughts on our work with alarm manufacturers?

Yes. So Karen, if I hear you correctly, you said alarm, right? So yes, so we've been doing this for years. We did it actually on 3G, 4G. We're probably -- not a problem. We saw the explosion of alarm services. Obviously, I can't release the names, right, obviously in these partnerships because we're a supplier of that aspect, right, and for them to tell. But I can tell you there is literally hundreds of thousands, if not millions of alarm panels that are actually activated on the Verizon network somehow, some way, right? And that could be from residential to commercial. We've done -- specifically, what I can mention, I've done perimeter security around alarms, right? So in this day and age, unfortunately, with violence against law enforcement. So think beyond just the men and women in blue. Think judges. We've had to deal with certain things around the threats around judges. And we've seen alarms and sensor technology put into the ground to detect intruders, right? So it depends. But at the end of the day, the answer is yes. In those cases, I think one of the things -- and Eric can answer this as well and as Earl mentioned, 4G is going to be around for a while, right? And in doing so for -- some alarms won't require 5G, right? So in some of those sensors in the panel, just think about this. When I put that in your home, the expectation, that panel could sit there 5, 10, 15, 20 years, right? So in a lot of cases, those alarm panels may not be -- no, there is no easy reason to upgrade, right? They do one thing and one thing only, right? That's off a noise and then it calls 911 or other emergency services, right? I think where you're going to see more, I would say, alarm would be do I integrate that? Like an alarm sensor goes off at a certain location, and then a remote drone comes over to actually inspect before the officer, he or she, can get out there, right? And I start streaming that information through the drone and relating that to different people. That is actually, I think, you're going to see more 5G specific is actually that integration work out there. But when you look at alarm panels out there and what the 4G chips offer in terms of price point, that's -- for that volume, you're going to see 4G. We are starting to see if the alarm company or other public safety, they are now starting to source 5G standalone capable chips. And you'll start seeing those come in probably in the next 18 to 24 months integrating those. But one example we would see in terms of 5G and something we actually do when we rolled this out, it's actually a product is something like accelerated access where we actually -- you may have an alarm door, but then you do a facial recognition, somebody walking up, simple as an iPad and unlocks that door. But the traditional alarms, we do it today. I have also other alarms that I monitor today -- not to scare anybody. I'm monitoring nuclear waste, radiation, seismic activity, tidal. These are all different alarms are actually using our network and our backbone. In a lot of cases, these are integrated into not only a private wireless network but also a mobile private network, where we're actually broadcasting the [ AZ's ] mobile IP pools onto our network. So long-winded answer to your question, but there's a lot of different alarm pipes that we're supporting today.

So clearly, there's a lot going on.

There is a lot going on. Yes, ma'am.

Thanks. Hang on. I'm going to keep you up. [Operator Instructions] We have our panelists with us for a few more minutes. I want to get to as many as we can. Bryan, there is a question here on the importance of digital literacy for first responders. And asking if you have any advice for improving digital literacy for first responders?

Yes. We could follow up. One of the things -- I mean we live in a digital age as I have one daughter in college and another one in high school, right? And we saw this unfortunately with the pandemic, right? How do we get smarter in the technology? How do we reach? So a 2-part answer to that question. One, you have to have digital access, right? There is a digital divide, right? And there is a lot -- there is a ton of information in terms of the technology, but how do you go there, right? I can tell you there is now a resurgence in academia specifically not just having broad telecommunications, but actually having cellular communications courses and classes and actually access of them online. Obviously, you have the traditional, your YouTubes, your Ted Talks, right, those different things. We publish information as well. We actually do have developers' classes and workshops as well. And Earl's team is a perfect example. We're actually -- he's actually at an event or just wrapping up an event down in Mississippi, where we actually do workshops and show this. We actually have some 5G innovation sessions. We had some last year. We have some coming up this year, one in Chicago in May that I'll be attending where we'll actually be conducting workshops. And it's not positioning Verizon. Listen, at the end of the day, we know the people that we serve. We serve the great citizens and also the great first responders in this community. But we need to make sure they deal with the tools that they have access to, right? So I would say from an academia standpoint, but more importantly, right, we've got IWCE coming up. I'll be there as well as some of the folks. Earl, I believe will be there as well. Make sure you hit those training classes. I go into those training classes, right? So when you're starting to plan for your Orlando event coming up, make sure it's not just one of the keynote guest speakers are. Make sure you're going to those technical tracks and not blowing it off and going to Disney World even though -- Disney World is a fine place. But let's make sure that we get our study time in as well. But I do take a lot out of those and then talking to those different panels out there. So -- but I'd be more than happy if anybody specifically wants to share their e-mail address. We'll be fair in the information. But we do have some 5G workshops, and we're actually looking to do some road shows as well that you can see the technology, ask a question about the technology. And I'll leave you on this. Do you know your network team at Verizon? Have you been to one of our mid sales? Have you done tours? I constantly do that. I live near Baltimore. We work with all the top federal law and agencies and make sure that they see this. It's not just the people in this webinar, but do they know where our assets are and can we share the information, right? That's another great example of that working together with this great community.

Great. Bryan, thank you for that. Eric, we have one here about capacity in the network. During 9/11 in New York City, cellular was overloaded and stopped working. How will 5G prevent this sort of thing from happening during this type of event in the future? Any thoughts on 5G capacity?

Yes. Look, one, the event was quite a long time ago. We've seen a dramatic increase in capacity on the network. I would also say I don't think that the capacity of the network was really the limiting or the main factor in that there. I don't think any of our networks are really prepared for that kind of an infrastructure damage that really occurred. Wireline networks were impacted that day as well. What I would say that's most critical at those times, I mean it's the reliability. It's what we build into it. But then it's somewhat Earl talks about in our temporary assets and how quickly we can get them on site and how quickly they deploy. We talked earlier before the webinar started, we respond constantly to tornadoes and hurricanes and disasters and events that happen. Obviously, an event like that is at another scale. But what we bring is this quick reaction. Our temporary assets are vast. We move them quickly. We practice on a regular basis for it. And that's how we really recover, and that's how we're really prepared. The networks themselves, though, I mean, the amount of capacity and spectrum depth we have today compared to back then, I actually just looked at the chart the other day. It's in order of magnitude larger. So the [indiscernible] won't be the problem. The problem will be the surviving infrastructure around an event like that. And that's where you really then have to lean back on what kind of reaction can you expect from, what kind of generator backup, what kind of diversity backup in your fiber networks that you have. These are things that we bring to the table that others just don't bring to the table as well as we do. I mentioned earlier that 51% of our sites are on our own fiber network now. That's not just an owner's economics play for us. We have more reliability on our fiber network, just hands down. We see it. We measure it against all the third-party providers that are out there. And we build in extra diversity because we have the capability to do so. So specifically, 5G brings a ton of capacity. Events like that also for first responders today, you're relying on a combination of LTE and 5G. You will be for a long time as we get those devices upgraded. There's lots of questions in here about some of those aspects. And I think Bryan mentioned it earlier. We've got to get that device adoption by these agencies. And then as that moves up the ladder, then we'll see more traffic on 5G. But we'll come at problems like that from both an LTE, a 5G perspective. But really, it's the temporary assets and the preparation work that goes into it.

Great. Thanks, Eric. While we have you, we do have a question here about ORAN, specifically when ORAN will be available. But perhaps you can take one step back and talk a little bit about what ORAN is and then what Verizon's roadmap is for that.

Yes. So I think on this question here, I don't think of the O-RAN as something that's available, let's say, to our customers. And I'm trying to sell O-RAN like a virtualized slice off of my network, right? O-RAN is a capability in the network for interoperability between the components of the network. What we'll see out of O-RAN over time is, hopefully, lower cost and more innovation, right? We saw this in the voice networks that predated kind of as we moved into digital switches and then we moved into data networks, data networks were much more interoperable with each other. It was -- replaced out components of the data networks much faster with different vendors, so we could see innovation and drive down price and go from there. Our network is seeded with tens of thousands of ORAN-capable devices today. I won't speak on the specific timeline of which pieces will be available where but we're committed to the O-RAN journey here. Most of our radios -- all of our radios that we buy today are ORAN-capable. And we'll continue to deploy that into the network. And we'll take advantage of that. And then as innovations come from other providers, it just makes it easier for us to look at those and say, "Hey, we can integrate this into the network quickly." We don't have to change out all the components of the kind of end-to-end network in order to put it in. We can just change out one piece and then drive those innovations in faster.

Okay. Great. Thank you for that. Bryan, we're going to wrap up on one question here that came in. I'm going to send it over to you. The question says, Verizon seems to have a great focus on government. What is Verizon's best differentiator for government that is stronger than the other commercial carriers? So I will kick that over to you to close us out of the Q&A session. [Operator Instructions] So Bryan, over to you for our last question.

All right. Well, other than working with 3 great individuals you see on the screen here today, that's one reason we work with Verizon. But in all seriousness, right, we've been doing this a long time, over 3 decades, right? And we've proven ourselves time and time again. And as Earl mentioned, it's best set on blue sky days but also unfortunately on gray sky days, right? We are the largest carrier here. The other thing, too, I would mention here in the world that I live in is we are U.S.-based. We are a U.S.-headquartered company, right? That goes a long way, right? When it turns to supporting the federal government as well as state and local, the depth that we have when Verizon, when you look at this, it's not just from the mobility front, right? We're talking about all the great things that we're doing, right? We were first to 5G. We beat the South Koreans by, what, I think a couple of hours, Eric, if memory serves me. But we're always pushing the envelope, and we always have done so, right? And I've been here a long time, and I can honestly say this. We've proven ourselves in the pandemic, and we saw as good as we think we are, there are still ways to go, right? We still have a digital divide. We're doing and looking at new technologies like fixed wireless access and how do we offer a broadband experience in, say, a nontraditional bell market, if you date ourselves, right, in the Northeast. And when you put all together, what we're able to do from a mobility standpoint, and really, it's the men and women. I just saw a stat the other day that we just published. The average tenure of Verizon employee is 12 years, right? So this is a good firm to work for. Many of us have been here a very long time, and I say this all the time to the team that I manage, right? The reason why I'm still here is not because of the technology. It's because of the men and women left and right of me, right? And growing up in a law enforcement family and unfortunately, I have family members lost in line of duty, when you grow up in that culture and you work for a firm that actually understands it and actually backs up what they say, it makes me very excited on a personal note. And that's why I choose to be here. And hopefully, as long as they'll have me, I'll be here until the day I retire. When you ask about that being U.S.-based, leading the technology, being first in a lot of areas and then really putting the money where the mouth is. And our annual capital spend in some cases, well over $17 billion a year. I think at the end of the day -- and offer at a competitive price, right? At the end of the day, we have a premium product. We offer a competitive price and we're in conjunction with our frontline services, I think that's why Verizon stands out.

That's great. Bryan, thank you so much. As we close out today, I will remind you that this session is being recorded and will be available for on-demand viewing. So you'll be notified via e-mail when that archive is available. Eric, Bryan, Earl, thank you for your time today, and audience, thank you for joining us to talk about how 5G technology can impact the public sector.