DOCOMO Pacific has launched its long-awaited 4G LTE network on the Commonwealth of Northern Marianas Islands (CNMI), giving end-users access to 100Mbps download speeds. CEO Jonathan Kriegel told Marianas Variety that the launch has been enabled by the arrival of the new ATISA fibre-optic submarine cable, which links the CNMI to neighbouring Guam. The executive noted: ‘The big news for today is the launching of our 4G LTEnetwork. We are launching today the CNMI’s widest LTE coverage with more cell sites and more access to data to give you a great experience every time and anywhere.’
According to TeleGeography’s GlobalComms Database, the telco’s Guam-based sister company launched LTE on 4 October 2012, using the 700MHz band. The group secured 2×6MHz blocks of 700MHz C block spectrum (710MHz-716MHz/740MHz-746MHz) covering the CMNI back in 2009; the spectrum licence is due to expire in June 2019.