\tUS Cellular added Nokia to its list of 5G equipment vendors less than a week after announcing a similar deal with Ericsson, as the operator gears up for a commercial launch of the technology in the back half of the year.<\/p>\n
In a statement, Nokia said it is supplying 3GPP NR-compliant 5G technology, software and services in a five-year network modernisation programme, which will enable US Cellular to target new customer and enterprise segments with a range of \u201cinnovative services\u201d.<\/p>\n
US Cellular EVP and CTO Mike Irizarry said the operator would seek new revenue streams in areas including \u201cenhanced IoT\u201d.<\/p>\n
Ricky Corker, president of customer operations for the Americas at Nokia, said the deployment will \u201cdeliver 5G coverage\u201d in addition to a \u201cmulti-fold increase in capacity\u201d for the operator.<\/p>\n
A US Cellular representative told Mobile World Live (MWL) Nokia has already begun the modernisation programme, with initial work focused on the operator\u2019s major markets.<\/p>\n
The operator is the fifth-largest in the US and holds low-band spectrum in the 600MHz, 700MHz and 800MHz bands, along with mid-band PCS and AWS spectrum. Executives reportedly recently told analysts its 600MHz spectrum will spearhead the 5G campaign.<\/p>\n
Competition
\nLast week, Ericsson revealed it had been selected by the operator to deliver NR-compliant hardware and software as part of the upgrade to its existing 4G LTE network.<\/p>\n
It was in that announcement that Irizarry confirmed US Cellular was targeting a H2 2019 launch. In July 2018, the CTO told MWL it could deploy 5G within 18 months [1] using its existing spectrum holdings, with an earlier deployment deemed senseless without compatible mobile devices available.<\/p>\n
US Cellular\u2019s choice of Nokia and Ericsson follows a series of separate trials with vendors over the past year.<\/p>\n[1] https:\/\/www.mobileworldlive.com\/featured-content\/top-three\/us-cellular-cto-charts-course-to-5g\/<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
US Cellular added Nokia to its list of 5G equipment vendors less than a week …<\/p>\n
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