As of the end of June, Entel had 1.2 million active customers in its 5G segment.
Chilean telecommunications operator Entel announced that it has completed the second and final stage of its 5G deployment project.
Entel claimed to be the first operator to fully complete the second phase of its 5G project in Chile. The company also revealed that a total of 311 communes, or geographical regions, across the country are now equipped with 5G technology.
Entel reported completing its 5G rollout two months ahead of schedule. In the first phase of the 5G rollout, the operator launched a total of 1,105 new base stations in 270 communes across Chile. In Phase 2, 266 new base stations were added in 41 communes in Chile, for a total of 1,371 new base stations activated in 311 communes.
The company also highlighted that it is deploying 5G antennas at airports, airports, areas of scientific interest, universities and ports to provide complementary 5G services.
As of the end of June, Entel had 1.2 million active customers in its 5G segment, representing 16% of its total customer base. Additionally, at the end of the first half, 5G traffic accounted for almost 7% of total mobile traffic.
Entel has an existing agreement with Ericsson to integrate the Swedish vendor’s private 5G solutions into its products. In October 2022, Entel and Ericsson announced a partnership in which Entel plans to incorporate Ericsson’s private 5G solutions and collaborate with communication service providers for the provision of private networks.
Ericsson and Entel have conducted numerous 5G private network trials across a variety of industries, including healthcare, smart factories, agriculture and forestry, and traffic management.
With the completion of the second phase of Entel’s 5G network, new use cases are expected to emerge in industries such as healthcare, smart cities, among others, the telco said.
In February 2021, Chile completed what it claims is the first tender for 5G spectrum allocation in Latin America.
The government has raised $453 million in four rounds (700MHz, AWS, 3.5GHz and 26GHz), more than it has raised in all previous spectrum auctions, according to Subtel, the country’s telecommunications watchdog. 512% more than the sum of the amounts.
Subtel said a total of 1.8 gigahertz has been allocated to mobile broadband.
Mobile operators Movistar, Entel and WOM each secured 50 megahertz of 3.5 GHz spectrum in the spectrum auction.
WOM, managed by British fund Novator Partners, also secured additional frequencies in the process. WOM paid approximately $150 million to acquire 20 megahertz of the 700 MHz band, 30 megahertz of the AWS band, and 50 megahertz of the 3.5 GHz band.
Claro and Entel also secured additional spectrum in the 26 GHz band.
