St. Paul-based
LocaLoop is reaching across the globe--to Israel--to bring 4G broadband internet to rural and under-served areas of the Midwest.
LocaLoop announced last week a strategic marketing and technology agreement with the Israel-based network hardware firm Runcom. LocaLoop's cloud technology business management Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) platform, called aLoopNET, will be deployed using Runcom equipment.
LocaLoop founder and CEO Carl-Johan Torarp invented LocaLoop's 4G Mobile WiMAX/LTE enabling technology and founded the company in 2003 to provide products and solutions for 4G mobile broadband internet designed for the rural markets of the world.
On its website, LocaLoop states that it answers the question: "How can you build a profitable business delivering high-quality Broadband Internet service at an affordable subscriber price in low density areas both at home and on the go?"
The platform's cloud computing architecture is key to that, as it makes deployment of a virtual network operations center affordable for broadband internet service providers.
LocaLoop's target market is the approximately 50 million people in under-served and rural areas of the U.S. alone, according to its website.
The partnership with Runcom is "much more than a marketing and technology agreement," said Torarp in a press release. "Together we are able to deliver a powerful turnkey 4G wireless network solution with capabilities that we could not achieve individually."
The two companies will focus on the nine-state region of the upper Midwestern U.S. initially, and it may be the first of more joint ventures for LocaLoop. The company states on its website that it is currently in a testing phase on its own live 4G network and will begin roll-out with rural joint venture partners in the U.S. during midyear 2011.
Source: LocaLooop
Writer: Jeremy Stratton