At the Deutsche Bank dbAccess Media, Internet, and Telecom conference yesterday, Verizon came out strongly in favor of LTE-only phones. Fran Shammo, CFO of Verizon, made it clear that once voice over LTE (VoLTE) is rolled out across the network, LTE-only phones will hit store shelves. Last year, Verizon had announced an early 2014 date for VoLTE roll-out, so it’s no surprise that Shammo sees late 2014 as the perfect time to begin dropping CDMA support.

Of course, Verizon will have many customers who still require CDMA support, so don’t expect it to disappear with the flick of a switch.

VoLTE will have a benefit for iPhone users – Apple doesn’t jam multiple antennas in its phones for separate voice and data transmission, like some manufacturers, which is why its LTE-equipped iPhone 5 can’t support a voice call and data transmission at the same time on Verizon’s network. Once VoLTE is a thing, that won’t be an issue anymore.