C Spire details first LTE cities, September launch
updated 01:45 pm EST, Thu March 8, 2012
C Spire outlines more definitive LTE plans
C Spire gave out more definitive plans for its delayed LTE rollout on Thursday. The regional carrier will focus on Mississippi and cover both the core of Jackson, the Gulf Coast, and 23 individual towns. Among the examples include Hattiesburg, Tupelo, and West Point.
All of the initial batch should get access in September, providing enough coverage for about 1.2 million people. Its speeds should be comparable to others making the leap from EVDO-based 3G, or about 4-12Mbps downstream in typical conditions and 1-5Mbps up.
C Spire will be slightly late to LTE coverage among others roughly its size, following MetroPCS and US Cellular, but will likely be the first to provide wide LTE coverage in the state. Its access may be instrumental both to staying competitive with larger carriers that will eventually bring LTE to its areas as well as its continued support of the iPhone. Now that the iPad has LTE, it's already anticipated that the iPhone will follow suit.
