The Navajo Tribal Utility Authority (NTUA) is waiting for federal broadband stimulus dollars. If it receives the grant, the utility will deploy an LTE network using 700 MHz spectrum across 15,120 square miles of desert.
The plan is to deploy a 550-mile fiber backbone and microwave links to connect some 30,000 households in the Navajo Nation, which stretches across parts of Arizona, New Mexico and Utah. NTUA has asked for a $46 million grant from the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), and is hoping to hear shortly whether its plan was approved.
The utility already has one LTE base station operating in a test, and if all goes as planned, service would be commercially available to some residents in the fourth quarter.
For more:
- check out this PC World article
Related articles:
MetroPCS to launch prepaid LTE and avoid subsidies
CenturyTel to target rural broadband customers with LTE
In-Stat: LTE rollouts impeded by success of 3G