Nokia Siemens Networks said it had a hand in U.S. Cellular’s expansion of its LTE network late last year, providing radio access network and mobile management entity technology across in 11 markets across Illinois, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, Tennessee, Virginia, Washington and West Virginia. NSN also worked on the initial phase of U.S. Cellular’s LTE rollout, providing its evolved packet core and home subscriber services in select markets.
U.S. Cellular noted that the expansion pushed LTE coverage to 58% of its customer base, with plans to reach 87% by the end of 2013.
U.S. Cellular began the initial phase of its LTE deployment early last year, relying on A-Block 700 MHz spectrum licenses from partner King Street, which picked up more than 150 licenses in the A- and B-Block during the FCC’s 700 MHz auction in 2008. The carrier has since bolstered its 700 MHz spectrum holdings through separate agreements. U.S. Cellular also late last year announced a deal to sell off its operations in Chicago, St. Louis and a handful of markets in the Midwest to Sprint Nextel for $480 million. The transaction included both spectrum assets in the 1.9 GHz band and approximately 585,000 customers.
For NSN, the deal furthers its presence in the North American market, which has become a greater focus for the infrastructure giant. NSN has managed to snare extensive deals with T-Mobile USA, Mosaic Telecom andBell Canada, as well as an IMS deal with Verizon Communications. NSN claims 77 commercial LTE deals around the world with 44 operators having already commercially launched LTE serving about 40% of all LTE subscribers worldwide.
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