Ericsson Press Releases

Midwest Wireless, Rural Cellular Corporation select hosted MMS from Ericsson

Date: Tuesday, June 15 2004
 

Ericsson has signed managed services contracts with two U.S. wireless
operators - Midwest Wireless and Rural Cellular Corporation - to
integrate, host and manage multimedia messaging services (MMS)
throughout their respective networks. Ericsson's hosting offering is
helping the carriers deliver MMS to their customers more quickly and
cost efficiently than if they were to own and operate the service
 themselves.
 
In addition to supplying the platform and integrating the application
with the carriers' networks, Ericsson will operate and manage the MMS
service offerings around the clock. Furthermore, through Ericsson's
Mobility World initiative, each carrier will benefit from
relationships with thousands of application and content developers
whose services are compatible with Ericsson networks around the
 world.
 
"It's especially important in today's telecommunications market for
vendors and service providers to work together as strategic
partners," Ericsson Inc. President and Chief Executive Officer Angel
Ruiz said. "For both Midwest Wireless and Rural Cellular Corporation,
this approach was the most practical way to bring MMS to market
quickly while controlling capital and operational costs."
 
"Our overall goal was to deliver a consistently reliable MMS solution
to our customers as quickly and cost-effectively possible," said
Dennis Miller, President and Chief Executive Officer, Midwest
Wireless. "Of all the alternatives we considered for delivering MMS
to our customers, we felt the Ericsson solution would be the most
practical both in terms of reliability and service flexibility."
 
"Ericsson's MMS solution fits well into our next generation strategy
for both our GSM/GPRS and our CDMA2000 networks going forward," said
Ann Newhall, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer,
Rural Cellular Corporation. "While the Ericsson solution is
practical, more importantly it allows us to execute on a quality
feature offering our customers are asking for."
 
Ericsson is shaping the future of Mobile and Broadband Internet
communications through its continuous technology leadership.
Providing innovative solutions in more than 140 countries, Ericsson
is helping to create the most powerful communication companies in the
 world.
 
 
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT
Josephine Edwall, Ericsson Communications
Phone: +46 8 579 18018, +46 8 719 6992
E-mail: press.relations@ericsson.com
 
About Midwest Wireless
Based in Mankato, Minnesota, Midwest Wireless is a leading regional
wireless services provider with more than 370,000 customers in
Minnesota, Iowa and Wisconsin. With a company-wide focus on customer
satisfaction, Midwest Wireless has one of the highest customer
loyalty rates in the industry. Midwest Wireless offers wireless phone
services, as well as mobile Internet access on phones and wireless
devices at speeds up to 70K. In select areas, the company also offers
High-Speed Wireless Internet, a fixed wireless broadband service that
delivers high-speed Internet access to homes and businesses at speeds
ranging from 256K to 1.5M. More information on Midwest Wireless is
available at www.midwestwireless.com
 
About Rural Cellular Corporation
A leading rural service provider headquartered in Alexandria,
Minnesota, Rural Cellular Corporation [NASDAQ: RCCC] was established
in 1990 and conducted its initial public offering in February 1996.
RCC serves more than 750,000 wireless customers in 44 markets in the
Midwest, Northeast, South and Northwest Regions. From its array of
services including cellular, paging, long distance and PCS, RCC
tailors its offering to address the needs of each of its rural
markets in 14 states. Additional information about RCC is available
at www.rccwireless.com