Sprint’s Rural Roaming Preferred Provider program now includes 27
carriers; extends 4G LTE coverage in 27 states, 565,000 square miles and
a population of more than 38 million people
Company Website:
http://www.sprint.com
OVERLAND PARK, Kan. -- (Business Wire)
Sprint (NYSE: S) today announced that it has reached 4G LTE agreements
with 15 additional rural and regional network carriers as part of the
Rural Roaming Preferred Provider program it announced with Competitive
Carriers Association earlier this year. The program gives smaller
carriers a clear path forward to high speed mobile broadband solutions
by providing the carriers low-cost access to Sprint’s nationwide 4G LTE
network and an opportunity to access an expanded range of mobile devices.
Including the new agreements, the program now includes 27 carriers,
extending coverage in 27 states, over 565,000 square miles and a
population of more than 38 million people. The 15 carriers joining the
program are:
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Bluegrass Cellular, serving Kentucky
-
Blue Wireless, serving New York and Pennsylvania
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Pine Belt Wireless, serving Alabama
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Pioneer Cellular, serving Oklahoma and Kansas
-
Public Service Wireless, serving Alabama and Georgia
-
Syringa Wireless, serving Idaho
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Rural Independent Network Alliance (RINA) members and their partners:
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STRATA Networks, serving Utah, Wyoming and Colorado
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Silver Star Wireless, serving Wyoming and Idaho
-
All West Wireless Inc., serving Wyoming and Utah
-
NNTC, serving Colorado
-
Snake River Personal Communications Service, serving Oregon
-
CTC Telecom Inc., serving Idaho
-
South Central Communications Inc., serving Utah
-
Custer Telephone Wireless, serving Idaho
-
Breakaway Wireless, serving Utah
These agreements increase wireless competition by accelerating the
deployment and utilization of 4G LTE across the U.S. where the cost of
building such networks and the roaming costs are often prohibitively
expensive. In addition to reducing roaming costs for carriers and
improving competition, the Rural Roaming Preferred Provider program
broadens Sprint’s coverage footprint by giving its customers the ability
to roam on participating carriers’ networks.
“In just a few short months, Sprint has made significant progress by
signing agreements covering 27 regional carriers that serve millions of
people across the country,” said Michael C. Schwartz, Sprint senior vice
president of Corporate and Business Development. “By working together,
we will bring mobile broadband and better wireless devices to
underserved communities while expanding 4G LTE coverage for Sprint
customers.”
CCA Device Hub
As part of the program, Sprint is working with CCA, Brightstar Corp. and
carriers to support a device ecosystem in which carriers may pursue
access to a broad portfolio of 4G LTE devices. Leveraging Sprint’s scale
can lower costs, improve time to market and expand the portfolio of
devices available to regional carriers. Beginning in 2015, Sprint will
make devices more compatible with regional carriers’ networks by adding
support for additional spectrum bands including the AWS and lower 700MHz
spectrum that are used by CCA member carriers. Sprint will also support
device changes that allow regional carriers to provision, manage and
brand devices independently through CCA’s Device Hub. Participating
carriers will be able to work directly with Brightstar, which will be
the exclusive distributor for device access and distribution.
CCA Roaming Hub
In addition, Sprint is collaborating with CCA on the Data Access Hub
that serves as a clearinghouse for participating members to complete
simple, commercially-sustainable and individually-negotiated reciprocal
roaming agreements with CCA member operators. The CCA Data Access Hub
expands collaboration opportunities among carriers, eases roaming
implementation across carriers and makes it easier and less costly to
expand 4G LTE coverage.
CCA’s President and CEO Steven K. Berry said, “I am very pleased Sprint
has signed agreements with 15 additional carriers and is committed to
working with smaller rural and regional carriers. Competitive carriers
must have a pathway to 4G LTE technologies, and Sprint’s solution will
help them achieve this critical goal. I encourage every CCA member to
look at Sprint’s program, and I look forward to our continued work with
Sprint on CCA’s Data Access Hub and Device Hub, which will bring
numerous additional benefits to competitive carriers and their
consumers. This innovative approach will allow small carriers to remain
vibrant, independent competitors in the marketplace.”
NetAmerica
NetAmerica Alliance and Sprint continue their aggressive march toward
delivering SMART (Small Market Alliance for Rural Transformation) to
rural carriers. This previously announced initiative is a shared network
alliance which provides participating rural carriers the capabilities
they need to build and run 4G LTE mobile networks and to compete in the
delivery of 4G LTE mobile broadband services to their communities.
“SMART has been aggressively embraced by rural carriers looking to build
networks, expand their reach and deliver on the promise of 4G LTE mobile
broadband,” said Roger Hutton, NetAmerica CEO and Chairman. “Since
announcing the initiative, we have signed preliminary agreements with
approximately 20 carriers interested in building out over 300,000 square
miles of network. In addition we continue to work with dozens of others
carriers in multiple states to match their specific business expansion
goals to the SMART program.”
About Sprint:
Sprint (NYSE: S) is a communications services company that creates more
and better ways to connect its customers to the things they care about
most. Sprint served more than 54 million customers as of June 30, 2014,
and is widely recognized for developing, engineering and deploying
innovative technologies, including the first wireless 4G service from a
national carrier in the United States; leading no-contract brands
including Virgin Mobile USA, Boost Mobile, and Assurance Wireless;
instant national and international push-to-talk capabilities; and a
global Tier 1 Internet backbone. The American Customer Satisfaction
Index rated Sprint as the most improved U.S. company in customer
satisfaction, across all 43 industries, over the last six years. Sprint
has been named to the Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI) North
America in 2011, 2012 and 2013. You can learn more and visit Sprint at www.sprint.com
or www.facebook.com/sprint
and www.twitter.com/sprint.
About Competitive Carriers Association
CCA is the nation’s leading association for competitive wireless
providers and stakeholders across the United States. The licensed
service area of CCA’s more than 100 carriers covers 95 percent of the
nation. Visit www.competitivecarriers.org.
About the NetAmerica Alliance
The NetAmerica Alliance is a democratic, peer-to-peer union of
independent Communication Service Providers (CSPs) joining forces to
secure the future of rural America. Through the programs, services,
capabilities and investment in infrastructure with which the Alliance
arms its Members, and the manner in which they work for their individual
and collective success, NetAmerica helps to mitigate business and
technology risk to yield successful and profitable deployment of 4G LTE
service. The Alliance believes in rural America and in the virtues of
independence, community, and family. We also believe that irrespective
of geography, every individual should have access to modern
communications services that maintain those valuable connections. For
more information, visit: www.NetAmericaAlliance.com
Contacts:
Sprint
Media Contacts:
Doug Duvall, 571-287-8153
douglas.duvall@sprint.com
or
Scott
Sloat, 703-675-3794
Scott.Sloat@sprint.com
or
Media
Contact for CCA:
Lucy Tutwiler, 202-449-9866
lucy.tutwiler@competitivecarriers.org
or
Media
Contact for NetAmerica Alliance:
Ginny Gardea, 503-314-1056
Ginny.Gardea@NetAmericaAlliance.com
Source: Sprint
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