The City of Atlanta received a "Connected City Award" from Mobilitie, LLC, due to improvements made to its city-wide wireless networks, resulting in coverage that is more seamless, ubiquitous, capable and faster—while adding a network ready for the next generation of connectivity.

The Connected City Award recognizes cities that demonstrate remarkable leadership in bringing 21^st- century wireless connectivity across their neighborhoods, educational systems and businesses, helping bridge the digital divide. Connected City leaders invest in wireless solutions that empower their residents and businesses and anticipate their future needs by having the wireless systems in place to encourage innovation and opportunity.

Working with city officials, Mobilitie invested millions of dollars and installed dozens of small-cell sites throughout the city in less than nine months, enhancing wireless capacity and speeds by up to 20 percent. The result is a wireless network and experience that is world-class and ready for the future with 5G technology already embedded. Furthermore, the company employed existing infrastructure, like street lights, for most of its build and designed its attachments and new structures to blend in—making the deployment virtually unnoticeable.  

"Atlanta has long understood the importance of having world-class communications infrastructure in place as a way to attract businesses and improve quality of life," said Kasim Reed, mayor of Atlanta.  "We've encouraged it and made it a priority—and it is a primary reason we've been successful in growing and adding higher-paying, 21^st-century jobs that appeal to, help retain and attract top talent."  

"Mobilitie's small-cell technology makes world-class wireless voice and data networks happen at a fraction of the expense and time of traditional networks," said Christo Karmis, President of Mobilitie. 

"We've done it in Atlanta working in partnership with progressive-thinking city officials who realize that the next generation of innovation—such as self-driven cars—require significant capacity increases and the fraction-of-a second speeds 5G will deliver," said Karmis.

Small-cell technology expands network coverage and capacity using limited infrastructure (radios are the size of a laptop bag) installed at unobtrusive locations to augment the coverage of wireless carriers. It requires minimal space and low-power demands. The networks are 5G ready and designed to be upgradeable to accommodate future wireless demand.

"We're installing thousands of small cells across the country," said Karmis. "And as with Atlanta, these installs are permanent, unobtrusive long-term improvements to the communications experience that bring an unprecedented level of wireless connectivity—the lifeblood of 21^st-century economies—that benefit people and businesses of virtually all sizes."