Leap Wireless International Inc. subsidiary Cricket Communications Inc. has selected three infrastructure vendors for equipment, services and software in its planned buildout of third-generation networks in its recently acquired advanced wireless services spectrum. The entire network coverage expansion will include CDMA2000 1x and EV-DO Rev. A equipment.
Leap Wireless doesn’t anticipate any additional partners, and believes it is receiving the best value by going with three veteran partners it has relied on in the past, a company spokesman said.
Alcatel-Lucent, Nortel Networks Ltd. and Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. each won a piece of the pie, landing comparable contracts in value and reach. Huawei’s contract is the only one of the three that doesn’t disclose a specific value, but Leap Wireless said it’s very similar to the price tag attached to the others.
The value of Alcatel-Lucent’s contract at $126 million, and Nortel Networks Ltd. at $135 million, were disclosed due to requirements by the Federal Communications Commission, the Leap spokesman explained.
All the deals comprise the flat-rate carrier’s plan to build out its recently acquired AWS spectrum in FCC Auction 66.
“Cricket is steadily expanding into new markets extending our unlimited services with no long-term commitment wireless plans to more and more subscribers,” said Glenn Umetsu, executive VP of engineering and technical operations for Leap Wireless.
Cricket has deployed Nortel infrastructure in markets covering more than 26 million potential subscribers since 2000, according to the wireless infrastructure provider. Huawei has launched a 3G CDMA system for Cricket in Spokane, Wash., Boise, Idaho and Reno, Nev.
3 vendors get a piece of Leap business
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