Verizon has conducted WiMAX trials with partner Vodafone as part of its 4G technology selection process, Verizon Communications executive vice president and chief technology officer Dick Lynch said Thursday.

Verizon and Vodafone ultimately settled on Long Term Evolution (LTE) for their future network, as the two operators announced today, but Lynch said Verizon weighed all options including CDMA’s 4G equivalent, Ultra Mobile Broadband (UMB). Lynch did not say which specific country the trial was held in, only that it was an area where Vodafone held the appropriate spectrum. Vodafone has publicly announced a Mobile WiMAX trial in Malta, but it holds 3.5 GHz spectrum in other markets.

Verizon Wireless has hinted in the past that it was investigating WiMAX as a 4G alternative as part of its collaboration with 45%-owner Vodafone, but this is the first time Verizon has acknowledged conducting a field trial of the technology. Any trial over European broadband wireless frequencies would look distinctly different than a U.S. launch, though. The high frequencies of designated European 3.5 GHz bands have much lower penetration and shorter range than the Advanced Wireless Spectrum (AWS) frequencies VZW currently holds and where it intends to initially launch its 4G network. Verizon Wireless will also likely bid in the 700 MHz auction in January, potentially giving it spectrum with tremendous range and non-line-of-site characteristics.

“I’m not surprised Verizon looked at WiMAX, but I can’t imagine it looked at it wholeheartedly,” said Peter Jarich, wireless infrastructure analyst for Current Analysis.
“If you look at the scale of one versus the other, LTE clearly has some advantages.”

While WiMAX has received large amounts of attention in the last year, much of it had to do with Sprint’s decision to pursue the technology. With its recent financial troubles though, Sprint has cast doubt on the future of its WiMAX network. Sprint and Clearwire canceled their proposed shared WiMAX network and the company has been slow to invest capital in the network build out. Meanwhile, Verizon Wireless has usurped the business model that made Sprint’s WiMAX plans so extraordinary in the industry. Verizon Wireless on Tuesday said it would open its current 3G network to all devices and applications that passed minimal connectivity requirements, and today Lynch said it would extend that open model to the LTE network. That would create a nationwide high-capacity mobile broadband network on par with Sprint’s except using an alternate technology.