Utande joins the 4G race. Alepo & Dimension Data working on the platform

Alepo, A US based company providing enabling infrastructure for telecommunications service providers, announced today that it has entered into a partnership with Dimension Data to roll out 4G services across Zimbabwe for Utande, a local ISP.

According to the announcement, Alepo and Dimension Data will build upon Utande’s existing network to create a convergent network environment, enabling the delivery of 4G services over WiMax, Wi-Fi and high-speed Metro Ethernet. Utande itself confirmed at the recently held EMC breakfast briefing that it will be launching its WiMax platform commercially “soon” declining to give any specific dates.

Alepo will basically provide the billing infrastructure, a platform called Service Enabler and a real-time policy & subscriber management server. Alepo’s announcement also says the company will provide a Wi-Fi hotspot management solution, which will allow Utande to build a Wi-Fi hotspot network through partners and resellers. Probably something along the lines of ZOL’s ZOLspots.

Utande did speak about some kind of close relationship with Dimension Data when we interviewed them back in July this year. The company though has not as much as indicated they are working on launching a 4G network. We’ll be reaching out to them to see if we can get more flesh to this story.