C Spire Wireless

Cellular South, Inc.

Trading name	C Spire
Type	Subsidiary
Industry	Telecommunications
Founded	1988
Founder	Wade H. Creekmore, Jr. and James H. "Jimmy" Creekmore, Sr.
Headquarters	Ridgeland, Mississippi, United States
Number of locations	72 stores, 2 call centers
Area served	Memphis metropolitan area Mississippi Alabama Florida Panhandle
Key people	Hu Meena – President Kevin Hankins – Chief Operating Officer Ben Pace - Chief Financial Officer Gregg Logan - Chief Technology Officer
Products	Wireless voice and data, Fiber to the Home, Cloud Services, SMS (text messaging), MMS (picture messaging), BREW, Push-to-talk, Mobile banking, Email, BlackBerry, Windows Phone, Android, Netbook, iPhone
Services	CDMA2000 1xRTT EV-DO LTE Tier III+ commercial data center Fiber to the Home
Parent	Telapex, Inc.
Website	www.cspire.com

Cellular South Inc. d.b.a. C Spire^[1] headquartered in Ridgeland, Mississippi, is the sixth largest wireless provider in the United States and the largest privately held wireless provider in the United States.^[2] The company is a full-service provider of transport, Internet and telecom services. C Spire has approximately 1,200,000 customers in Mississippi, the Memphis Metropolitan Area, the Florida Panhandle, parts of Alabama including Mobile. 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.^[3] C Spire Wireless is owned by the holding company Telapex, Inc.,^[4] 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]

In February 2013, C Spire Wireless created an affiliate company called Vu Digital, LLC. Vu Digital is an innovative technology company that creates global products that are not confined to the C Spire footprint and provides an alternate stream of revenue for C Spire. Vu Digital specializes in video content and analytics and predictive analytics.

Growth

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.^[6] In 2009, the company purchased Alabama-based Corr Wireless, which expanded its coverage in Alabama and moved it into Georgia for the first time. As of 2006 the company began advertising "its nationwide wireless voice and data network," and on August 17, 2006 opened its first 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

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]

C Spire's LTE service officially launched in Mississippi in September 2012.

C Spire released the iPhone 5 on September 28, 2012. However, C Spire was unable to implement 4G LTE service with the device until the release of iOS 6.1 on January 28, 2013. Other devices in the line-up were already compatible with 4G LTE.

Vu Digital LLC was formed in February 2013 as a new division of innovative technology of C Spire Wireless.^[9]

Community involvement

C Spire sponsors the C Spire Foundation.

C Spire also holds corporate sponsorships for:

• The University of Mississippi, Mississippi State University, University of Southern Mississippi, University of Memphis, and University of South Alabama athletic programs
• The Memphis Grizzlies of the National Basketball Association
• The Memphis Redbirds and Mississippi Braves minor league baseball teams
• The Mississippi RiverKings hockey team
• The Conerly Trophy awarded to Mississippi's best 4-year college football player

References