Chile removes restrictions for América Móvil to sell 5G services from the 3.5 GHz band

Mobile Americathrough your unit clearobtained authorization for the commercialization of telecommunications services with 5G technology nationwide in Chile, after the competition authority of that country responded to a request to expand the possibilities of exploitation of the 3.5 gigahertz band held by that company.

The Court of Defense of Free Competition of Chile (TDLC) authorized a modification to Claro’s spectrum concession, so that this operator can now use its frequencies in mobile services such as 4G-LTE and 5G, in addition to previously authorized fixed wireless such as fixed telephony, but which have ceased to operate. represent an important business for Claro due to the new consumption habits of users who today browse the mobile Internet.

The TDLC ruled in this way on the resolutions with files No. 62, No. 1,289/2018 and No. 1,953/2018, which deal with the powers of the Undersecretary of Telecommunications of Chile (Subtel) to modify the types of radio frequency exploitation.

One of the arguments of Subtel and Claro before the TDCL was based on the fact that the previous authorization caused inadequate use of the frequencies and when Claro’s concessions with that band are less than ten years old. In Mexico, América Móvil, via Telcelhas 100 MHz of 3.5 GHz type frequencies that were of Axtel y Telmex.

With this authorization, Claro will become a new operator that will also offer 5G services from the 3.5 GHz band, joining competitors Entel, Movistar and Wom as the main companies that already offer fifth generation services and with speeds worthy of 5G in Chile. . A report by the consulting firm OpenSignal maintains that Entel offers 5G navigation with the highest speeds in that country: up to 192Mbps in download and 25.7Mbps in data upload, while Movistar leads the experience with 5G video games.

In Chile, the operator Claro has 30 Megahertz frequencies with national coverage within 3.5 Gigahertz, located between the ranges from 3425 to 3440 MHz and from 3525 to 3540 MHz. The validity of Claro’s concessions in That spectrum ends on December 12, 2031.

Andrea Catalano, an Argentine telecommunications journalist, recalled that Subtel had started a consultation process in 2018 to obtain authorizations for Claro with the 3.5 GHz frequency.

The authorization granted by the TDLC to the requests also promoted by the Undersecretary of Telecommunications will have an impact on the investment strategy of Claro, now in a business alliance with VTR of Liberty Latin America after both companies combined their Chilean fixed and mobile businesses in the same entity and with an investment commitment in the deployment of 5G and fiber optics.

The goal of the new entity is to integrate the mobile and cable businesses into a 50/50 company owned by its parent companies in little more than a six-month period, to then start with an investment plan for the deployment of fiber optic networks and then be prepared with the offer of fifth generation (5G) products for the mass market and industries.

Claro VTR had 6.97 million cellular users after the union announcement in 2021, of which 58.74% corresponded to the lucrative postpaid market, and with almost four million subscriptions between telephony, Internet and television that VTR in turn provides.

The logic of the Chilean telecommunications market forced Claro and VTR to unite so as not to lose more money, and followed the path that Movistar and the KKR fund had followed long before to create a new company whose goal is to bring fiber optics to the Chilean homes. And a similar case is the alliance of Wom with Mundo Pacífico to offer mobile services and fixed broadband, which to date exceeds 2.6 million houses passed with the latest generation fiber, in both cases, directly impacting Liberty’s VTR.