We have a portable cell phone tower & ground unit set up right outside our city hall. It is a self-contained unit and certainly could be deployed by a Chinook or 2. All you would need is microwave to link it to the grid. Emergency antennas could be deployed via those helium blimps or even repeater stations. We have the technology. I've seen current video of it rolling out on flatbeds (a local company makes military comm. equipment and I recognize the stuff).
Great, you'd prefer to wait for them to call you?
Cell phones are limited by their very nature - dependent on a tower network that may or may not be there, and broadcasting to all units in an area in a usable way is a problem. Yes, keep your cell, but in an emergency, broadcast radio is the only option.