Verizon Wireless has built itself quite a 3G network. At a conference in New York today, CEO Denny Strigl announced another 13 markets to Verizon's growing 3G footprint, which now encompasses 52 metropolitan areas and mid-sized cities. But the tech-savvy wireless users in San Francisco and Silicon Valley may be wondering if Verizon has something against them. While Verizon Wireless is turning up cities like Akron, Ohio, and New London, Conn., it has so far left the Bay Area hanging except for localized EV-DO service in the area's three major airports.

So what's the hold up? Verizon spokesman Jeffery Nelson said that Verizon's strategy of late has been to launch 3G services in a market's airport first--which it did in the San Francisco, Oakland and San Jose airports yesterday--and then follow up with a market-wide launch in the following months. "We have every expectation to launch in San Francisco by the end of the year," Nelson said.

The reason San Francisco wasn't part of Verizon's first batch of markets was probably due to spectrum. Verizon recently got its hands on a rather valuable chunk of PCS spectrum in San Francisco, which it's likely allotting for EV-DO. It paid MetroPCS $230 million for 10 MHz, which--though nothing compared to the $930 million it paid NextWave for the same amount in New York--is a pretty good indication that spectrum is a scarce resource in the Bay Area.

Until Verizon Wireless gets its service up, though, Cingular gets the run of the market. San Francisco is one of only two remaining cities where the UMTS networks it inherited from AT&T Wireless is still unchallenged. While there is little disagreement that Verizon is beating the pants off Cingular in the overall 3G wars--what with 52 markets to Cingular's six--it probably doesn't look that way to the people of San Francisco.

Contact me at kfitchard@primediabusiness.com.