U.S. Cellular selects Ericsson for 5G deployments

U.S. Cellular and Ericsson have announced a multi-year contract for Ericsson to support U.S. Cellular’s 5G network deployment. Under the contract, Ericsson will provide U.S. Cellular with 3GPP standards-based 5G New Radio (NR) hardware and software.

Ericsson will support U.S. Cellular’s network modernization from its LTE network to 5G, allowing U.S. Cellular to leverage Ericsson’s industry-leading 5G portfolio to expand coverage while simultaneously future-proofing its current network.

Michael S. Irizarry, Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer, U.S. Cellular, says: “We’re constantly working to ensure that our customers have access to the latest technology available. 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.”

Niklas Heuveldop, President and Head of Ericsson North America, says: “We look forward to enhancing our strong relationship with U.S. Cellular and supporting the 5G network rollout to their customers. We work constantly to ensure our customers have access to the latest 5G solutions, and U.S. Cellular customers will certainly reap the benefits of innovative applications that 5G networks will enable.”

This announcement follows the successful joint testing of various 5G use cases. The tests, a significant step toward the launch of a 5G network, were conducted in rural and suburban environments in Madison, Wisconsin.

The companies tested virtual reality, augmented reality, advanced beamforming, massive MIMO, dynamic TDD, and large channel bandwidth under a variety of real-world conditions.