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C Spire in March announced it plans to rollout 4G LTE this year. Tupelo is slated to get it in September.
Customers will have to upgrade to a 4G device in order to access the new network.
Click here to read our previous coverage.
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Excerpts of a press release from C Spire Wireless:
FAST GETTING FASTER: C SPIRE WIRELESS MAKES SIGNIFICANT PROGRESS ON 4G LTE LAUNCH PLANS FOR 20 MARKETS IN MISSISSIPPI
Ridgeland, Miss. (May 22, 2012) – C Spire Wireless, the only U.S. provider that offers a suite of personalized wireless services, released details today on progress the company has made in readying its network for introduction of 4G LTE (Fourth Generation Long Term Evolution) high-speed mobile broadband services beginning in September.
The company is investing $60 million for the initial introductory phase of 4G LTE mobile broadband services in 20 Mississippi markets covering 2,700 square miles, a population of 1.2 million and more than 360 cell sites.
The new service will provide 4 out of every 10 consumers and businesses in Mississippi with wireless data speeds up to 10 times faster than 3G, allowing C Spire to be the first provider to make these services widely available in the state.
Since announcing its 4G LTE plans in early March, the company has:
• Installed and tested all major, state-of-the-art core network elements required to launch the next generation of high-speed mobile broadband services
• Completed the second phase of installation of base station equipment at all 360 plus cell sites that will power 4G LTE services
• Integrated Ethernet backhaul at nearly 70 percent of all cell sites to date using fiber optic cable to boost overall 4G LTE data rates as well as 3G data service and voice capacity. All remaining cell sites are scheduled to be completed by September.
• Continued field testing for maximum optimization of the company’s high-speed 4G LTE network
“We’re very pleased with both the download and upload speeds we’ve achieved in field testing,” said Eric Hollingsworth, vice president of Network Operations for C Spire Wireless. “Our field engineers are reporting data speeds up to 10 times faster than 3G on a consistent basis.”
For more information about C Spire’s 4G LTE plans, go to www.cspire.com/4G.