C Spire
| File:C Spire Wireless logo 2011.jpg | |
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Wireless voice and data services |
| Founded | 1988 |
| Founder | Wade H. Creekmore, Jr. and James H. "Jimmy" Creekmore, Sr.Oxford, Mississippi |
| Headquarters | , |
Number of locations | 85 stores |
Area served | Memphis metropolitan area Mississippi Alabama Florida Panhandle Rome, Georgia |
Key people | Hu Meena – President; Kevin Hankins – Chief Operating Officer; Suzy Hays – Senior Vice President, Marketing; Tony Kent – Chief Technology Officer; Greg Latour – Senior Vice President, Strategic Development; Sherry Stegall – Senior Vice President, Sales and Customer Operations |
| Products | SMS (text messaging), MMS (picture messaging), BREW, Push to Talk, Mobile banking, E-mail, BlackBerry, Windows Phone, Android, Netbook, iPhone |
| Services | CDMA2000 1xRTT EV-DO (wireless voice and data services) |
| Parent | Telapex, Inc. |
| Website | www.cspire.com |
 | This article contains promotional content. (October 2010) |
Cellular South Inc. D/B/A C Spire Wireless[1], headquartered in Ridgeland, Mississippi, is the eighth largest wireless provider in the United States.[2] C Spire has approximately 900,000 customers in Mississippi, the Memphis Metropolitan Area, the Florida Panhandle, parts of Alabama including Mobile, and Rome, Georgia.[3] 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.[4] C Spire Wireless is owned by the holding company Telapex, Inc[citation needed]., which also owns Telepak Networks, Inc., a provider of broadband internet and phone service, as well as several smaller Mississippi telecoms.
Beginnings
C Spire Wireless began its wireless service as Cellular South on the Mississippi Gulf Coast on February 4, 1988, using AMPS technology. Mississippi football legend and Drew native Archie Manning made the company’s inaugural call from Gulfport, Mississippi to then U.S. Representative Trent Lott in Washington, D.C..[5][6]
Growth
The company has grown steadily year after year[citation needed] and began an even more aggressive expansion in 1999. Since then, C Spire Wireless 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. Cellular South provides flat-rate, unlimited voice and data plans, nationwide digital coverage, a 3G voice and data network and retail stores to teach wireless users how to use wireless features and applications on their smartphones. Cellular South celebrated its 20th Anniversary in February 2008. In 2009, the company purchased Alabama-based Corr Wireless, which expanded its coverage in Alabama and moved it into Georgia for the first time.
The company announced on September 22, 2011 it planned on changing its name to C Spire Wireless effective on September 26.
On October 19, 2011, Apple Inc. announced plans to bring the iPhone 4S to C Spire Wireless. At the time of the announcement, C Spire Wireless was the 8th largest mobile phone company in the US. Previously, only the top three wireless providers in America, AT&T, Verizon, and Sprint, sold the iPhone.[7]
Community involvement
C Spire Wireless also sponsors the Cellular South Charitable Foundation, a 501(c)(3) foundation with a focus on higher education.[8] The foundation's stated mission is to provide grants to Mississippi Institutions of Higher Learning in order to help advance college education opportunities at these universities. They also consider supporting 501(c)(3) tax exempt organizations which are committed to improving the quality of life in the markets they serve with special prioritization given to those entities that do so with a motivation to serve Christ through their respective endeavors.
Additionally, the foundation provides academic scholarships to Mississippi's eight public universities and financial assistance to community organizations that include the Boys & Girls Clubs of America, Habitat for Humanity, Stewpot Community Services, Blair E. Batson Hospital for Children, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Make-a-Wish Foundation, March of Dimes, The Mustard Seed, The Salvation Army, Special Olympics and the YMCA.
Cellular South also holds corporate sponsorships for:
- The Cellular South Cup professional tennis tournament in Memphis
- The University of Mississippi, Mississippi State University, University of Southern Mississippi and University of Memphis athletic programs
- The Memphis Redbirds and Mississippi Braves minor league baseball teams
- The Mississippi RiverKings hockey team
- The Conerly Trophy award to Mississippi's best 4-year college football player
- The Ferriss Trophy award to Mississippi's best 4-year college baseball player
- The Howell Trophy award to Mississippi's best men's 4-year college basketball player
- The Gillom Trophy award to Mississippi's best women's 4-year college basketball player
References
- ^ Fictitious Business Name Registration
- ^ Tiny US Phone Co. Is Getting IPhone
- ^ Cellular South: We won't participate in Verizon's rural LTE licensing program
- ^ Trademark information for C SPIRE WIRELESS
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
deltabusinessjournal.comwas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ CellularSouth.com: History/Timeline (including transcript of the first call made between Manning and Lott
- ^ Peter Svensson. "Tiny US phone company getting iPhone". Associated Press. Retrieved October 19, 2011.
- ^ <http://dynamodata.fdncenter.org/990s/990search/ffindershow.cgi?id=CELL004 Foundation Center: Foundation Finder Results>