In the Face of COVID-19, Cellular One® Builds New Towers, Expands Coverage, and Increases Access to Mobile Data and High Speed Internet for Tribal and Rural Southwest Communities
Regional Cellular Carrier Launches 2 New Towers on the Navajo Nation, Connects 9,500 Students and Teachers, Brings New Internet Service to an entire Hopi Community
SHOW LOW, Ariz., Dec. 15, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Smith Bagley, Inc. (SBI), the Northern Arizona company that owns Cellular One and Sunstate Technology Group, is proud to announce the launch of its newest LTE cellular towers near Low Mountain and Many Farms. Cellular One is already the largest LTE network on Navajo, Hopi, Zuni and White Mountain Apache tribal lands, and these new towers bring Cellular One's regional network to a total of 255 towers,of which 158 are located in tribal communities throughout the Southwest.
"The COVID-19 pandemic has further demonstrated the importance of access to cellular, mobile broadband, and internet technology." said Judd Hinkle, CEO of SBI. "Connectivity is not only a life line. It's school. It's business. It's how we stay connected to loved ones. Reliable telecom and internet technology lends strength to our healthcare, public safety, and educational systems and so much more."
Despite the extraordinary challenges resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, this year the carrier's technical team built and launched 4 new towers (with more in progress), made LTE additions or upgrades to 8 sites, supported 13 site optimizations, installed or upgraded 16 new microwave links, and added fiber backhaul to increase network capacity.
When schools closed in the spring, the ERATE team within Cellular One worked long days and weekends to meet the needs of school administrators seeking support for distance learning. Wireless hotspot devices were secured and distributed through 53 schools, enabling more than 9,500 students and teachers in rural and tribal communities to continue the school year.
The company is also working closely with the Hopi Tribal Housing Authority to bring internet to an entire community of 87 homes that do not currently have access. This project, which involves building and launching a point to multipoint internet solution would normally take 90 to 120 days to complete, but Cellular One is set to wrap up in less than six weeks.
"Their efforts are nothing short of heroic, especially during a time of uncertainty and contagion," said Melissa Riggs, the IT Director for Hopi Housing Authority. "The Cellular One team has been working around the clock to assess, engineer, install, and test this new high speed internet access for our community. Reliable connectivity is more important than ever and they are boots on the ground making it happen for us."
About Cellular One
For more than 25 years, Cellular One has been a leading regional provider of mobile technology and wireless communications service for underserved tribal lands and rural communities in the American Southwest. The company operates a network of more than 230 cell sites, covering 60,000 square miles and has almost 200 employees, many of whom are Native American. For more information, please visit cellularoneonline.com.
SOURCE Cellular One
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