Cellular South, Inc.

Type	Private
Industry	Wireless voice and data services
Founded	1988
Founder(s)	Wade H. Creekmore, Jr. and James H. "Jimmy" Creekmore, Sr.
Headquarters	Ridgeland, Mississippi, United States
Number of locations	85 stores
Area served	Memphis metropolitan area Mississippi Alabama Florida Panhandle Rome, Georgia
Key people	Hu Meena – President; Kevin Hankins – Chief Operating Officer; Suzy Hays – Senior Vice President, Marketing; Tony Kent – Chief Technology Officer; Greg Latour – Senior Vice President, Strategic Development; Sherry Stegall – Senior Vice President, Sales and Customer Operations
Products	SMS (text messaging), MMS (picture messaging), BREW, Push to Talk, Mobile banking, E-mail, BlackBerry, Windows Phone, Android, Netbook, iPhone
Services	CDMA2000 1xRTT EV-DO LTE September 2012 (wireless voice and data services)
Parent	Telapex, Inc.
Website	www.cspire.com

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Cellular South Inc., doing business as C Spire Wireless,^[1] headquartered in Ridgeland, Mississippi, is the eighth largest wireless provider in the United States.^[2] C Spire has approximately 900,000 customers in Mississippi, the Memphis Metropolitan Area, the Florida Panhandle, parts of Alabama including Mobile, and Rome, Georgia.^[3] The company also holds 700 MHz and AWS licenses covering most of Tennessee and Alabama, though it has not yet extended service to these areas. On September 20, 2011 Cellular South, Inc. filed a trademark application for the C Spire Wireless name and two days later announced that it would market its services under the C Spire Wireless brand effective September 26.^[4] C Spire Wireless is owned by the holding company Telapex, Inc^{[citation needed]}., which also owns Telepak Networks, Inc., a provider of broadband internet and phone service, as well as several smaller Mississippi telecoms.

History

Cellular South, Inc. began its wireless service on the Mississippi Gulf Coast on February 4, 1988, using AMPS technology. Former American football quarterback Archie Manning made the company’s inaugural call from Gulfport, Mississippi to then U.S. Representative Trent Lott in Washington, D.C.^{[5][dead link]}

Growth

The company has grown steadily year after year.^{[citation needed]} Since 1999, C Spire has invested more than US$700 million in its wireless network, including constructing 1,403 cell sites, a high-speed wireless broadband network and a permanent microwave ring for redundancy across the Gulf Coast region^{[citation needed]}. In 2009, the company purchased Alabama-based Corr Wireless, which expanded its coverage in Alabama and moved it into Georgia for the first time.

Despite only operating a network in a handful of states, C Spire has established business relationships with other carriers allowing it to offer its customers nationwide service.^[6] As of 2006 the company began advertising "its nationwide wireless voice and data network," and on August 17, 2006 opened its first brick-and-mortar sales center located outside of its native network footprint.^[7]

The company announced on September 22, 2011 it planned on rebranding to C Spire Wireless effective on September 26.

Products and services

C Spire provides flat-rate, unlimited voice and data plans, nationwide digital coverage, a 3G voice and data network and retail stores to teach wireless users how to use wireless features and applications on their smartphones.

On October 19, 2011, C Spire announced plans to sell Apple's iPhone 4 and the iPhone 4S on its website. Both models were made available for purchase November 11, 2011.^[8]

Community involvement

Cellular South sponsors the Cellular South Foundation.

Cellular South also holds corporate sponsorships for:

• The Cellular South Cup professional tennis tournament in Memphis
• The University of Mississippi, Mississippi State University, University of Southern Mississippi and University of Memphis athletic programs
• The Memphis Redbirds and Mississippi Braves minor league baseball teams
• The Mississippi RiverKings hockey team
• The Conerly Trophy award to Mississippi's best 4-year college football player

LTE is coming in Septermber 2012

http://www.cspire.com/company_info/about/network/?WT.ac=e_201203_4G_LTE

References

1. ^ Fictitious Business Name Registration
2. ^ Tiny US. Phone Co. Is Getting IPhone
3. ^ Cellular South: We won't participate in Verizon's rural LTE licensing program
4. ^ Trademark information for C SPIRE WIRELESS
5. ^ History/Timeline
6. ^ Master Cellular Voice and Data Service and Equipment Agreement with Cellular South
7. ^ Cellular South Opens Kiosk in Houston
8. ^ C Spire snags contract with Apple to offer iPhone 4S