Oklahoma-based rural operator Pioneer Cellular said it has expanded LTE coverage to five new markets across the state. Those new markets include Alva, Canton, Fairview, Okeene and Woodward.
Pioneer’s LTE deployment is tied to its agreement with Verizon Wireless and the carrier’s LTE in Rural America program, which it joined in late 2010. As part of that program, Pioneer customers will have nationwide roaming access to Verizon Wireless’s LTE network, which is on track to cover that carrier’s cellular footprint by mid-year.
Pioneer said that as part of its LTE plans it will cover more than 260,000 potential customers across 21 counties and 17,000 miles in central and western Oklahoma. Pioneer currently provides CDMA2000 1x EV-DO Revision A services in 37 counties across Oklahoma and 14 counties in southern Kansas.
Verizon Wireless’ LTE in Rural America program calls for Verizon Wireless to lease all 22 megahertz upper C-Block, 700 MHz spectrum it controls to the rural operator until at least 2029. Those rural operators are then charged with building out the physical network that can then have back-end services run through Verizon Wireless’ switches.
In return for building out the network, Verizon Wireless has agreed to not build out its own network in those markets and will rely on the rural operator to provide roaming services for Verizon Wireless customers, and in turn to provide nationwide LTE roaming to the rural operators. The agreement is similar to the affiliate program used by Sprint to build out its PCS network in the late 1990s, which in the end resulted in Sprint having to acquire most of those affiliates due to competitive clauses in their contracts following Sprint’s $35 billion acquisition of Nextel Communications in 2004.
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