UScellular has partnered with Tarana Wireless to provide Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) services to residents and businesses in West Plains, Missouri.

Tarana's next-gen fixed wireless access (ngFWA) platform, will increase UScellular’s network capacity, the regional provider said.

To support the enhanced FWA offering, three UScellular towers have been equipped with Tarana's ngFWA.

The vendor specializes in developing kit for FWA and has more than 200 service provider customers. According to its website, it spent a decade of R&D into FWA, investing more than $400 million, before developing its ngFWA product.

FWA is seen as a key use case of 4G LTE and 5G, as spectrum from those technologies can be used to provide wireless broadband connectivity between two fixed points, such as from a cell tower to an FWA device.

UScellular notes that Tarana's ngFWA is ideal for deploying in difficult-to-reach areas and dense locations, claiming that it can be installed quickly through a small antenna.

"We know that many West Plains residents have limited internet options, and working with Tarana allows us to affordably and efficiently increase the data capacity on our network to enhance our home and business Internet offering for customers,” said Mike Irizarry, executive vice president and chief technology officer at UScellular.

“We look forward to more people experiencing the benefits and cost savings of having their wireless provider as their internet provider.”

Last month, UScellular fitted small cells to streetlights in Maine.

UScellular is one of the biggest regional cell carriers outside the big three of AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile. It serves four million mobiles across 21 US states, in mostly rural areas.

In May, UScellular reached an agreement to sell a big portion of its business to T-Mobile for around $4.4 billion.

Once the transaction closes, UScellular will retain ownership of its other spectrum plus its towers, with T-Mobile entering into a long-term arrangement to lease space on at least 2,100 additional towers being retained.

As part of the transaction, T-Mobile will acquire around 30 percent of UScellular's wireless spectrum.