Ericsson, Globecomm crow about their rural U.S. LTE contracts

The United States already accounts for nearly half of all LTE subscriptions worldwide, and LTE rollouts are trickling down from the largest U.S. mobile operators to some of the smallest.

Ericsson (NASDAQ:ERIC) this week released a list of more than a dozen LTE wins it has recently scored with U.S. regional operators. Several of the Ericsson contracts are related to larger LTE alliances and partnerships.

For example, as part of its LTE network partnerships with NewCore Wireless, SRT Communications is deploying Ericsson LTE equipment in north central North Dakota while MidRivers Communications focuses its efforts on central and eastern Montana. Meanwhile, Nex-Tech Wireless is deploying LTE in northwestern and north central Kansas and is marketing an LTE core network for regional operators.

Further, the Rural Independent Network Alliance of regional carriers in Colorado, Idaho, Oregon, Utah and Wyoming has signed on with Ericsson, and Colorado Valley Communications in southeast Texas is deploying an Ericsson LTE network for fixed wireless broadband as a member of the NetAmerica Alliance.

"I am delighted that Ericsson is working with rural and regional carriers to help them deploy LTE networks, commented Steven Berry, president and CEO of the Competitive Carriers Association. He added competitive carriers must find a pathway to LTE services so they can "continue to compete and thrive in the industry."

Also supplying LTE infrastructure products to rural carriers is Globecomm Systems, which announced contracts with Indigo Wireless in Pennsylvania and Nebraska; Chariton Valley in northeast Missouri; and Evolve Broadband (doing business as WorldCall Interconnect) in Texas. Each of the three carriers is buying Ericsson network gear but will also use Globecomm's hosted LTE core as well as its Converged Packet Gateway (CPG) solution.

Indigo renewed its existing hosting contract with Globecomm for a three-year term and will expand its services from GSM to HSPA+, in addition to beginning an LTE trial site next month in Mansfield, Pa. Chariton Valley will add LTE services for its home subscribers, while Evolve recently completed a successful pilot project in three rural Texas markets and will continue its LTE build-out.

"The success of our company's pilot program was assisted by partnerships we have formed with Globecomm Systems and Ericsson. As we now move toward full build-out of our 13 counties, including approximately 30 cell sites, in our licensed spectrum cellular market area in Texas, we will continue to build and rely on these strong vendor relationships," said Lowell Feldman, CEO of Evolve.

For more:
- see this Ericsson release
- see this Globecomm release

Related articles:
Ericsson switch key to NewCore's rural LTE offering
Verizon rural partner expecting upside from roaming revenues
Bluegrass takes wraps off fixed LTE service in Kentucky
Small operators prep for LTE, despite uncertainties
Nex-Tech seeks 700 MHz buildout extension, device interoperability
NetAmerica pitches 700 MHz 'license-saver'
NetAmerica Alliance brands 4G service 'Bonfire'