US Cellular launches LTE in eleven markets with NSN

US Cellular and its partner King Street Wireless have teamed up with Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN) for the launch of the Chicago-based mobile operator’s Long Term Evolution (LTE) network in a further eleven markets, covering select cities in Illinois, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, Tennessee, Virginia, Washington and West Virginia. NSN was selected by US Cellular for the second wave of its 4G network rollout, providing Radio Access Network (RAN) and Mobile Management Entity (MME) technology. The equipment vendor previously deployed Evolved Packet Core (EPC) and Home Subscriber Services (HSS) in the first wave of the LTE rollout. ‘US Cellular is focused on providing the world’s best customer experience and delivering industry-leading innovations. We are building on this commitment by rapidly expanding the 4G LTE network, which currently covers 58% of our customers and will reach 87% of our customers by the end of this year,’ said Michael Irizarry, executive vice president and CTO for US Cellular, adding: ‘NSN launched eleven of our markets to help us meet this aggressive timeline and completed the deployment of the core network elements ahead of schedule.’ US Cellular inaugurated its LTE network in March 2012, notes TeleGeography’s GlobalComms Database, with 4G services at that date going live in select cities in Iowa, Maine, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas and Wisconsin.