Following its recent frequency acquisitions at auction, Une-EPM has revealed plans to launch a tender next month to select an equipment vendor for its planned Long Term Evolution (LTE) networks, reports BNamericas. ‘Once we launch the process, we believe that we can award the contract in approximately 30 days,’ a company executive told the online journal.
TeleGeography’s 4G Research Service records Une-EPM won a tender for mobile spectrum in the 2500MHz-2690MHz frequency band in June 2010, and will pay COP8 billion (USD4.05 million) for each of the ten spectrum blocks of 5MHz it won. The company has said it will use the spectrum to deploy LTE, putting it head-to-head with established cellcos Comcel, Movistar and Tigo. Une plans to invest around a further COP150 billion in the new project and launch mobile services in the second half of 2011, initially in three or four large cities.
Une-EPM has operational interests in the fixed telephony, pay-TV and fixed broadband sectors. The company also offers mobile services in association with Tigo.