C Spire LTE network to gain 700 MHz, 850 MHz support

Regional telecom operator C Spire said it has started tapping its sub-1 GHz spectrum holdings in support of its LTE network.

The carrier said it has begun adding 700 MHz and 850 MHz spectrum to cell sites, in its way to adding those bands to more than 500 existing cell sites over the next nine months. The move is expected to bolster the reach and penetration of C Spire’s LTE network, which since its launch in 2012 has relied on the carrier’s 1.9 GHz spectrum licenses.

Stephen Bye, who was recently named CTO at C Spire, said the move will show greatest results in rural areas and along major traffic corridors in central, northern and southwestern Mississippi, as well as along the Gulf Coast. Outside of the planned sub-1 GHz expansion, C Spire claims it has doubled spectrum resources on 604 of its 681 LTE sites across Mississippi over the past year, moved to “boost power” on 397 cell sites and expanded LTE coverage to 115 new cell sites. Those efforts resulted in a 71% improvement in average mobile broadband speeds.

The carrier’s LTE plans were at first expected to take advantage of C Spire’s 700 MHz spectrum licenses, but challenges in gaining access to equipment to support that band forced the carrier to alter the blueprint and instead rollout services using its 1.9 GHz spectrum holdings. The carrier noted the 1.9 GHz band, known to equipment makers as Band Class 25, was already seeing an ecosystem form thanks to Sprint’s decision to rollout its LTE network using its G-Band, 1.9 GHz spectrum. C Spire subsequently signed a LTE roaming deal with Sprint covering the 1.9 GHz band.

Access to A-Block 700 MHz spectrum has been eased by recent moves from nationwide operators T-Mobile US and AT&T Mobility. T-Mobile US has aggressively gobbled up A-Block 700 MHz spectrum licenses in support of its LTE network, which has brought greater scale to equipment and devices supporting the spectrum band. AT&T Mobility, after some regulatory arm-twisting, agreed to 700 MHz interoperability support of the A-Block licenses.

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