Verizon said in a statement that the LTE Nexus 7 (2013) is still in wireless certification phase, following the recent confusion among customers that tried to activate the tablet with the carrier.

Verizon says that the device entered its certification process in August and that it expects it to be certified “shortly,” without actually providing any actual dates.

The carrier did say that the certification process takes “between four and six weeks,” as it’s “one of the most rigorous testing protocols of any carrier,” being focused “on guarding the safety and security” of its network.

Thus, Verizon has answered to criticism it faced in recent days, after various LTE Nexus 7 owners complained that they were not able to activate the device on Big Red’s 4G network.

In a detailed post explaining the matter, Jeff Jarvis noted on Google+ that by not allowing Google’s newest device to connect to its network, Verizon is in “violation of FCC openness regulation.”

The new Nexus 7 with LTE connectivity can be used with AT&T and T-Mobile SIM cards, but it also has support for Verizon’s 4G LTE bands – however, we’re going to note that the device won’t have support for Verizon’s CDMA network once LTE is out of reach.