U.S. Cellular will use Ericsson’s 3GPP-standards based 5G NR hardware and software for its 5G network deployment.
The new multi-year agreement builds on the two companies’ previous relationship and follows successful joint field tests of 5G use cases. The tests took place in suburban and rural areas in Madison, Wis., and included virtual reality and augmented reality applications, along with advanced beamforming, massive MIMO, dynamic TDD, and large channel bandwidth.
“We’re constantly working to ensure that our customers have access to the latest technology available,” said Michael S. Irizarry, EVP and CTO of U.S. Cellular, in a statement. “We value our long-standing relationship with Ericsson and are impressed with their 5G-ready portfolio. We also know Ericsson is committed to meeting our deployment timeline in order to bring 5G to our customers in the second half of 2019.”
The U.S. Cellular deal brings Ericsson’s tally of publicly announced 5G contracts to 14, four of which were announced this week during MWC 2019 in Barcelona. In addition to U.S. Cellular, the Swedish telecom giant this week revealed 5G deals with Ooredoo in Quatar, Saudi Telecom Company in Saudi Arabia, and Etisalat in the United Arab Emirates.
Separately, U.S Cellular announced the official introduction of a dedicated LTE network core for public safety that prioritizes mission-critical data and provides preemption over consumer and commercial traffic. In conjunction with the priority data services, the carrier is offering first responder-only unlimited plans with no speed caps.
“At U.S. Cellular, we understand the central role that first responders have to keep us safe, and we are committed to providing them reliable and consistent communication services,” said Jim Anetsberger, vice president of business strategy at U.S. Cellular, in a statement.”We have and will continue to make significant investments in our network and public safety solutions so first responders can stay in constant communication and access the data they need to provide the best response.”
