Ericsson will support the 5G deployment of U.S. Cellular, providing the carrier with 3GPP standards-based 5G New Radio (NR) hardware and software under a multi-year contract, the companies announced today. The Ericsson, U.S. Cellular deal calls for Ericsson to support U.S. Cellular’s network modernization from LTE to 5G.
The companies had previously jointly tested various 5G use cases in rural and suburban environments in Madison, Wis. Among the tests were ones for virtual reality, augmented reality, advanced beamforming, massive MIMO, and dynamic TDD, as well as large channel bandwidth under a variety of real-world conditions.
Ericsson, U.S. Cellular 5G
Michael S. Irizarry, U.S. Cellular executive vice president and chief technology officer, said: “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, added in a prepared statement: “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.”
