U.S. Cellular temporarily boosts spectrum capacity with Nokia

U.S. Cellular is working with Nokia to boost capacity in several markets, including the Northwest Region of the U.S., to help address surging traffic during the COVID-19 emergency.

The FCC has granted a 60-day temporary spectrum license to U.S. Cellular and other service providers across the country.

The temporary spectrum, which is licensed to Advantage Spectrum in the AWS-3 Band, was integrated remotely on Nokia Airscale Radio Access Network (RAN), bringing increased network capacity to 250 sites in parts of California, Oregon, Washington and Wisconsin.

In addition to keeping customers connected, U.S. Cellular is relying on Nokia's Endpoint Security solutions to detect new and established forms of malware related to COVID-19. Trojans and ransomware masquerading as popular virus outbreak location maps, as well as new apps pretending to locate medical masks, increasingly threaten to proliferate on end-user devices.

Scott Cohen, Head of U.S. Major Account Sales, Nokia, said: “Nokia greatly values our strong and trusted relationship with U.S. Cellular. During this global pandemic, Nokia understands now more than ever the importance of maintaining seamless network connectivity. Whether customers are at home working and streaming video or out in the field performing essential business functions, we are committed to helping U.S. Cellular keep their customers connected to the network from anywhere and at any time, as well as ensuring they can do so safely and securely with our Endpoint Security solutions.”

Mike Irizarry, Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer, U.S. Cellular, said: “For more than 10 years, Nokia has served as a trusted partner in helping U.S. Cellular deploy, scale and modernize our networks while keeping our customers safe from new threats. Their latest assistance in helping us launch this additional spectrum enables us to continue delivering our customers a fast, rich and uninterrupted network experience throughout this critical time.”