United States Cellular (UScellular) has enlisted Ericsson to help accelerate the ongoing enhancements to its 5G network. The deal includes the deployment of UScellular’s recently acquired C-band and 3.45GHz spectrum and opens up the opportunity for the cellco to explore enhanced fixed wireless access (FWA). It adds to UScellular’s existing deployment of Ericsson RAN technologies, including low-band (600MHz) and millimetre wave (mmWave, 24GHz/28GHz) 5G equipment. UScellular expects to activate its mid-band spectrum for customer use by the end of 2023. The two companies note that the contract builds on a decade of collaboration dating back to the cellco’s initial launch of 4G back in March 2012.
As previously reported by TeleGeography’s CommsUpdate, UScellular acquired 254 C-band licences in the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Auction 107 sale, paying a total of USD1.46 billion. In Auction 110, meanwhile, US Cellular paid USD579.6 million for 380 licences 3.45GHz licences.