Alcatel-Lucent signs deal to expand U.S. Cellular

Chicago-based U.S. Cellular will be expanding its network and increasing its speed with new equipment and services from Alcatel-Lucent's DuPage County operations.

The five-year agreement has U.S. Cellular buying equipment, software and services from Alcatel-Lucent, the Paris-based company with wireless technology operations in Naperville and Lisle.

"We have the potential to deliver download speeds that are seven to eight times faster than today and uploads speeds that are twice as fast," said Mike Dienhart, U.S. Cellular's senior director of national network equipment.

U.S. Cellular, which has about 6 million subscribers nationwide, did not provide a timeframe on when the new services would be available.

Every deal is important to struggling telecom equipment provider Alcatel-Lucent, and this one gives U.S. Cellular a chance to compete, said David Weissman, senior telecom analyst with Zacks Investment Research.

"Competitive offerings by Verizon Wireless, AT&T Wireless and T-Mobile require U.S. Cellular to stay current with technological innovation to keep churn rates (or customers switching providers) low and improve average revenue per user," Weissman said.

The new equipment aims to improve and increase U.S. Cellular's network capacity. It will provide advanced mobile high-speed data services such as mobile video telephony, high-quality music streaming and other multimedia applications. Alcatel-Lucent also will provide more base stations to help U.S. Cellular reach its customers with the expanded offerings, said Alcatel-Lucent spokeswoman Mary Ward.

"The Alcatel-Lucent people who work with U.S. Cellular are located in Lisle and Naperville, as are some of the engineers who developed the solution for them," she said.

Financial terms were not disclosed.

In addition, U.S. Cellular said Tuesday it would add more than 100 new jobs at its Bolingbrook Customer Care Center, bringing the staff to about 600. The company recently completed a $2 million expansion that added 10,000 square feet to the facility.