YOU ARE AT:5GWith rural focus, US Cellular promotes 5G 'fairness'

With rural focus, US Cellular promotes 5G ‘fairness’

As cellular competition heats up across the country, U.S. Cellular is looking for ways to stay in the game

Last week, U.S. Cellular unveiled a new branding angle focused on bringing “fairness” to wireless. As cellular competition heats up across the U.S., the carrier is looking for ways to stay in the game, especially after experiencing slowing growth. The fairness campaign promises to provide customers with reasonable pricing and a reliable network, and critically, will include bringing 5G to rural areas.

Jay Spenchian, senior vice president of marketing for U.S. Cellular commented that the campaign is a kind of “reintroduction” between the company and its customers. “It’s time to reintroduce ourselves to consumers and to give them unique and compelling reasons to choose and stay with U.S. Cellular,” he said.

While U.S. Cellular has not yet provided details, the company says its focus on fairness includes building out its 5G network in rural areas with the promise to “start in areas where other carries are not.”

“We will continue to introduce new and different ways that U.S. Cellular brings fairness to wireless,” says Spenchian. “We know that fairness is subjective, so we aren’t striving for perfection — rather, we’re focused on doing the right thing to make a positive impact in our customers’ lives and communities.”

Earlier this year, the company announced that it will purchase Ericsson equipment for its 5G launch, and initially launch on its 600MHZ spectrum before expanding to other bands. And just last month, U.S. Cellular’s CTO Michael Irizarry said the company plans to reserve its 600MHz spectrum to be used exclusively for its 5G network. The carrier will also deploy its 5G services on the $256 million worth of 24GHz and 28HGz millimeter-wave spectrum licenses it purchased in the FCC’s spectrum auctions.

The company said its message of wireless fairness will develop throughout the rest of this year and into 2020.

ABOUT AUTHOR

Catherine Sbeglia Nin
Catherine Sbeglia Nin
Catherine is the Managing Editor for RCR Wireless News and Enterprise IoT Insights, where she covers topics such as Wi-Fi, network infrastructure and edge computing. She also hosts Arden Media's podcast Well, technically... After studying English and Film & Media Studies at The University of Rochester, she moved to Madison, WI. Having already lived on both coasts, she thought she’d give the middle a try. So far, she likes it very much.