All southcentral Kentucky Bluegrass Cellular and Verizon Wireless customers can expect to have 4G LTE mobility coverage by the end of 2015.

Bluegrass and Verizon partnered in 2010 to bring 4G LTE to rural communities and began the process in 2012. The partnership allowed Bluegrass to get faster data speeds to rural Kentucky quickly, said Barry Nothstine, vice president of sales and marketing at Bluegrass.

“It basically means everything works faster on your phone,” Nothstine said.

Based on coverage maps on Sprint and AT&T websites, both companies offer 4G LTE to much of the region.

In an email today, AT&T says it has plans to expand its 4G LTE signal nationwide by the end of 2015.

This year, AT&T launched 4G LTE service in Edmonson, Allen, Logan, Barren, Metcalfe, Monroe and Adair counties. Sprint did not respond today to emails to its corporate headquarters. Information for T-Mobile was unavailable.

4G LTE – meaning fourth-generation Long-Term Evolution – offers faster data speeds for customers browsing the Internet on their smartphones or other mobile devices, as well as faster video streaming and photo messaging, among other improvements. 4G LTE is 10 times faster than 3G, which Bluegrass still operates, Nothstine said.

Warren County was one of the first areas serviced when the Bluegrass Cellular program began, Nothstine said. The order of installation was based on population.

“Just about every site in Warren County is 4G,” Nothstine said.

The counties in the region that will have complete installation by the end of this year are Adair, Allen, Barren, Butler, Hart and Simpson, according to a news release from Bluegrass. The company activates locations in groups roughly every quarter, Nothstine said.

Bluegrass set up 19 towers in June, including one that serviced the northwest part of Warren County, Nothstine said. 

As of June 30, 80.7 percent of Bluegrass’ core network – more than 620,000 people in about 7,055 square miles in central Kentucky – was covered by 4G LTE, according to the release.

From now until the end of 2015, Bluegrass will launch more than 75 new 4G LTE sites, bringing coverage to nearly 100 percent of its network, or about 730,000 people in more than 10,300 square miles.

Nothstine did not know exactly how many towers have been erected.

The initiative to provide 4G LTE coverage to rural areas is important because everyone wants and should be able to access the Internet and remain in contact with friends and family, regardless of location, Nothstine said.

“Being connected … is an important thing for people,” Nothstine said. “We’re passionate about bringing the latest technology to central Kentucky.”

Bluegrass provides national and international services, so when customers travel, they will roam on Verizon, Nothstine said. Bluegrass leased the spectrum from Verizon, but built its own mobility network for the rural program.

Bluegrass is headquartered in Elizabethtown and employs about 500 people.

“Kentucky owned and operated (businesses) can be on the cutting edge,” Nothstine said.

He added that becoming a Bluegrass customer is also good for the state economy.

“When you buy a Bluegrass phone, that money is staying in Kentucky,” Nothstine said.

Bluegrass also owns a network that supports wireless Internet to areas cable and DSL underserves.

— Follow business beat reporter Monica Spees on Twitter at twitter.com/BGDNbusiness or visit bgdailynews.com.