Une-EPM signs LTE deployment contracts

Une-EPM has inked deals with Huawei and Ericsson for the deployment of a Long Term Evolution (LTE) network. Huawei will be responsible for phase one of the 4G rollout, while Ericsson will take charge of phase two. Under the terms of the contracts, initial deployments will cover major cities such as Bogota, Medellin, Barranquilla and Cali, with commercial operations expected to begin in the first quarter of 2012 in Bogota and Medellin. The network will utilise the ten 5MHz blocks of spectrum in the 2500MHz-2690MHz frequency band that, according to TeleGeography’s GlobalComms Database, the company paid COP8 billion (USD4.05 million) for in June 2010.