Tampnet, an operator specializing in the offshore oil and gas industry, announced the completion of a 4G network coverage programme covering subscribers along the coast of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama.
The company said the 2-year project saw 2G services replaced by LTE backhauled on fibre, notably in the Gulf of Mexico Deepwater zone offshore US.
The company said its GSM and LTE roaming agreements with US mobile operators in the US permit seamless connectivity between onshore and offshore networks and that it has started the transition towards 5G allowing the use of sensors and tracking devices.
Tampnet's LTE traffic is carried to shore on a redundant subsea fibre-optic infrastructure to which it has exclusive access, complementing its network of microwave radio links.
Tampnet's parent company EQT Infrastructure agreed in July to sell the operator to investment funds 3i Infrastructure and ATP for an undisclosed sum in a deal expected to close in 2019.