Big River Broadband, regional service provider in the US, announced that
it is launching a 4G LTE service in seven Missouri counties in the first
quarter of 2012.
Alcatel-Lucent is providing its
end-to-end 4G LTE solution to help customers of the operator experience blazing
fast broadband speeds and take advantage of new applications, games and other
services over their mobile devices.
“The residents of rural and underserved areas of southeastern Missouri
deserve the same access to mobile broadband applications as those of the
bigger, more metropolitan areas. Today, the seven counties in Big River’s
service territory suffer from a lack of access to affordable networks. The
availability of an expansive and affordable broadband network will dramatically
change many aspects of our customers’ lives, including the areas of agriculture,
public safety, government, administration, real estate, land values and
tourism,” said Kevin Keaveny, CTO for Big River Broadband.
Big River’s 4G LTE network will be funded with a $33 million dollar
build-out through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. Big
River Broadband is part of the Missouri Broadband Commission entrusted to
deliver 95 percent broadband penetration within the State of Missouri.
This program was awarded in September of 2010 by the Rural Utility Services
which is part of the United States Department of Agriculture.
“Capacity, choice and speed are some of the obvious benefits of expanded
wireless broadband. But Big River also recognizes the less obvious benefit of
technology like mobile broadband opening the door to opportunity. The ability
to connect people and ideas at the speed of light changes everything from
access to education, healthcare, retail and other services,” said Robert Vrij,
president of Alcatel-Lucent’s Americas Region.
Having been selected so far by 18 customers for commercial deployments,
including three of the world’s largest service providers, and being involved in
more than 70 customer trials, Alcatel-Lucent has established a clear leadership
position in LTE. The company’s operational trials and active contracts span all
regions of the globe.
By Telecomlead.com Team
editor@telecomlead.com
