Mississippi based C Spire to offer Apple iPhone (USA)
C Spire, earlier known as Cellular South, will become the fourth operator in the United States to offer the Apple iPhone. The regional operator with a subscriber base of approximately one million customers across four states has reportedly said that the iPhone will be offered largely to postpaid subscribers as compared to prepaid customers.
Till last year, the iPhone was only available on AT&T and Verizon networks in the United States, giving the two operators a major competitive edge over the other carriers, as many users shifted changed networks when they bought an iPhone. This year, Apple added Sprint, the third largest carrier in the U.S., to the list of operators offering the iPhone. As per reports, T-Mobile, a unit of Deutshe Telekom, had spoken to Apple in September, expressing interest in selling the iPhone.
Samsung bags LTE Deployment Contract in USA
Samsung Electronics wins LTE deployment contract in USA based Cellular South. The agreement also calls for Samsung to design and launch two LTE-enabled smartphone handsets available in 2011 in Cellular South’s 700 MHz footprint.
Samsung and Cellular South will launch LTE service by the end of 2011 using voice-over LTE (VoLTE) and continue to expand availability across its 700 MHz footprint in 2012. Financial details were not disclosed.
According to Woonsub Kim, Executive Vice President and Head of the Telecommunication Systems Business of Samsung Electronics, Samsung is excited to work with Cellular South to bring the speed and connectivity of LTE infrastructure and devices to consumers in the Southeastern United States, along with two LTE-enabled handsets by the fourth quarter of 2011.
Cellular South is based in Mississippi and has approximately 900,000 customers in Mississippi, the Memphis Metropolitan Area, the Florida Panhandle, parts of Alabama including Mobile, and Rome, Georgia.
The company also holds 700 MHz licenses covering most of Tennessee and Alabama, though it has not yet extended service to these areas. Cellular South is owned by the holding company Telapex.
Cellular companies add towers
Jackson-based cellular company is the latest to unveil new transmission sites as cellular providers continue to blanket the state with coverage.
Cellular South said it added 10 cell sites throughout Hinds, Rankin, Leake, Scott and Madison counties as part of 200 new sites it plans for the state this year. The company said it has invested more than $400 million in its network since 1999.
Money spent on new cell sites adds up to better coverage for subscribers and a stronger lure for prospective customers.
Competitor Cingular Wireless said as of August it had put up 38 of 160 new cell sites it plans for Mississippi this year.
These new sites are part of a $90 million network investment statewide, and will improve coverage in Tupelo, Oxford, Columbus, Jackson, Meridian, Hattiesburg, Laurel, Natchez, Brookhaven, McComb, Gulfport and Biloxi, said Joe Larussa, vice president and general manager for the company’s southeast region.
Verizon Wireless, which this year entered the metro-Jackson market after several years on the Gulf Coast, continues to expand as do the Sprint Nextel systems.
Kristin Wallace, spokeswoman for Sprint Nextel, said a combined six new sites will be in by year’s end and new antennas are being added to existing sites on both the Sprint and Nextel networks. That will increase call capacity, she said.
Source- http://www.clarionledger.com
Technorati : Cellular, Cingular, Mobile, Sprint Nextel
Ice Rocket : Cellular, Cingular, Mobile, Sprint Nextel
