U.S. Cellular Readies 4G LTE Launch

By Joseph Palenchar -- TWICE, 2/1/2012

Chicago - Regional carrier U.S. Cellular will launch its 4G LTE network next month in areas reaching 25 percent of the population of its markets.

The carrier will announce the next wave of market launches later this month.

In December, the carrier said it would launch 4G sometime in the first quarter but didn't offer many details.

The March rollout includes select cities in Iowa, Wisconsin, Maine, North Carolina, Texas and Oklahoma. The cities include Milwaukee, Madison and Racine, Wis.; Des Moines, Cedar Rapids and Davenport, Iowa; Portland and Bangor, Maine; and Greenville, N.C.

The network launch will coincide with the launch of the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 LTE tablet followed soon by the Samsung Galaxy S Aviator LTE smartphone, which enables users to talk and access the web simultaneously.

U.S. Cellular is rolling out 4G service in conjunction with King Street Wireless, in which the carrier is a limited partner. King Street Wireless was the winning bidder of 152 700MHz wireless licenses covering portions of 27 states. The licenses are in markets that are either next to or overlap with current U.S. Cellular license areas.