[Lucent signs $100 million agreement to supply US Cellular with infrastructure equipment to support their conversion to CDMA 1XRTT technology.]

Murray Hill, NJ -- In an agreement that builds upon an existing relationship, Lucent Technologies announced that it has signed a $100 million agreement with U.S. Cellular for the deployment of third-generation (3G) CDMA 1XRTT infrastructure equipment and professional services. The network equipment will support U.S. Cellular's conversion to CDMA 1XRTT technology, which began in October 2002 and is scheduled for completion in 2004.

Under the five-year agreement, Lucent will upgrade U.S. Cellular's Lucent-supplied base stations as well as add new base stations to support the wireless service provider's CDMA 1XRTT offerings. Lucent will also provide engineering, installation and other professional services for U.S. Cellular as it continues to deploy CDMA 1XRTT technology across its wireless network.

"This agreement will enable U.S. Cellular to provide our customers with a more robust network and advanced wireless services," said Michael S. Irizarry, executive vice president of engineering and chief technical officer for U.S. Cellular. "Lucent's reliable, high-performing CDMA technology will not only improve voice clarity and offer greater service reliability, but also position our company for future growth."

"We are pleased that U.S. Cellular continues to rely on Lucent to deliver superior service to its customers," said Jim Brewington, president of Mobility Solutions Group at Lucent Technologies. "We're pleased to partner with U.S. Cellular as it delivers excellent quality voice and high-speed data services to both consumers and business customers."

CDMA is a wireless transmission standard that sends digitized transmissions of encoded speech over the airwaves and then uses a unique code to reassemble it in its original format at the receiving end. CDMA assigns a unique electronic code to each call signal and allows many more simultaneous calls over a service provider's network.

Lucent's Mobility Solutions Group is a leading global provider of mobile networking technologies, having deployed more than 70,000 spread-spectrum base stations for mobile operators worldwide.

More...

Back to Headlines...