The bases are located in California, Florida, Massachusetts, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Texas and the deployment will include C-band radios installed outdoors at each AFRC facility, for the base personnel and the surrounding community.
“Serving as an indispensable partner to the military and their strategic digital transformation objectives is one of our highest priorities,” said Jennifer Chronis (pictured), SVP for public sector at Verizon.
“Air Force leadership describes their modernisation as a transition from an industrial-age force to an information-age force and Verizon Public Sector is their partner in that journey, providing a 5G network with the right technology solutions to meet their needs today, and into the future.”
Verizon's press statement said such project are "helping U.S. military leadership pursue its most strategic digital transformation priorities", including supporting flight line test equipment, animated simulation and training, full-motion, high-definition video to support telemedicine for its airmen, and ultra-fast artificial intelligence for biometric identification.
It isn't the first such contract for Verizon. In 2019 it was appointed to improve wireless connectivity at 10 Air Force bases and currently Verizon is delivering 5G and other enhanced wireless network services across 17 Air Force bases throughout the United States.
Verizon's news followed AT&T's announcement last week that it will work with the Naval Postgraduate School to explore and develop 5G and edge computing-based maritime solutions primarily for national defence and homeland security.
