Verizon’s ongoing quest to tap into its deep millimeter-wave (mmWave) spectrum resources has reached the most logical conclusion: Taylor Swift.

Joe Russo, EVP and president of Verizon’s global networks and technology division, told investors at a conference last week that “Swifties” are a legitimate mmWave use case.

“I joke with my kids more than anything, but if you've been to a Taylor Swift concert, all of those people — our customers — are there and they want to stream that experience with their friends and family and you couldn't do that in a 4G world. There just wasn't the kind of capacity,” Russo said during Wells Fargo’s 7th Annual TMT Summit Conference. “We have found that we've enabled and unlocked that capability in venues with millimeter wave. There's no way we can deliver that kind of experience for our customers without millimeter wave.”

Russo is not the only telecom exec to tout the power of Taylor Swift and her impact on network architectures.

Chris Sambar, EVP of technology at AT&T, during a keynote address at the recent Brooklyn 6G Summit event, said Swifties during one day of her three-day stop at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, pushed nearly 29 petabytes of data across the carrier’s in-stadium network. That compares to the 21 terabytes of data typically consumed during a sporting event at that stadium.

“She’s incredibly popular,” Sambar said.

While such Swiftie data tsunamis are not a daily occurrence, they do highlight an avenue for greater mmWave usage.

Verizon’s initial 5G launch was based heavily on using mmWave to show the speed and capacity potential of its deep high-band spectrum resources, but that emphasis slowly eroded as 5G coverage became key for marketing. The carrier has since started to focus on adding mmWave spectrum into its portfolio.

Kyle Malady, EVP and president of global networks and technology at Verizon, stated earlier this year that the carrier had deployed more than 40,000 nodes beaming out mmWave spectrum. Those nodes can be used for unique market opportunities.

Verizon this summer ran a test where it beamed a signal using licensed mmWave spectrum in the 37 GHz–39 GHz band between a centralized, rooftop radio site and a radio sitting on a simulated building. That signal was then transmitted through coaxial cable throughout the building to a data processing unit tied to a modem, which then used the building’s existing wiring to transport a broadband signal to end-user routers.

The carrier is also looking to use its mmWave spectrum assets to boost its private 5G network and fixed-wireless access (FWA) network performance.

Verizon last month signed a deal with the Port of Virginia to replace a current Wi-Fi network with a tech-studded, 5G-based private network. The new network will use Verizon’s “ultra-wideband” spectrum that entails its C-band and mmWave spectrum.

It's also prepared to infuse its rapidly growing FWA service with mmWave support.

“The millimeter wave, right now, is very much focused on private networks, but also where we see hot spots where we can build millimeter wave and if that's going to be fixed-wireless access in a certain area, we can do that,” Verizon CEO Hans Vestberg told investors at this week’s UBS Global Media and Communications Conference.

Verizon recently reported that it added 384,000 total FWA connections during its most recent third quarter, with one-third of those coming from the carrier’s enterprise sales organization. The carrier ended the quarter with 2.7 million total FWA connections.

Vestberg during that most recent earnings call also stated Verizon plans to expand the geographic reach of its FWA service toward more rural areas beginning next year.

“That’s an even greater opportunity for us because there are more underserved markets and our fixed-wireless access will come extremely quickly into those markets,” Vestberg said of those expansion plans.

Those efforts could be bolstered by the U.S. government’s Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) program. That program has set aside $42.5 billion toward expanding the reach of broadband services across the U.S.

Vestberg told investors at this week’s UBS conference that mmWave-infused FWA services should be privy to BEAD funding.

“I still think that fixed-wireless access is one of the best solutions for the BEAD money … because it's much quicker,” Vestberg said. “You get broadband immediately to the digital divide that we all are trying to close.”