Movistar Mexico is currently evaluating 5G plans and the technological infrastructure necessary
Mexican operator Movistar, owned by Spanish telecommunications company Telefonica, is considering a launch of 5G in Mexico via a network sharing agreement with AT&T, according to recent press reports.
“The infrastructure sharing model that we signed with AT&T means that we have that possibility. As long as they start with this process, we have access to it,” local newspaper Milenio quoted Alfonso Gómez, CEO of Telefónica Hispam, as saying.
In December last year, AT&T Mexico had started the deployment of its 5G network in the country using spectrum in the 2.5 GHz band. The initial coverage of AT&T’s 5G network was limited to the Cuauhtémoc and the Napoles districts in Mexico City.
Nicole Rodríguez, VP and CTO at AT&T Mexico, previously said that the telco will deploy 5G in large cities including Mexico City, Guadalajara and Monterrey in the coming months.
Camilo Aya, CEO of Telefónica Movistar México, highlighted that one of the advantages of sharing infrastructure with AT&T was that once the latter company launched these services, Telefónica will be able to do so simultaneously.
“We are starting our plan to do tests and start the deployment as well. We are going to use the coverage that AT&T uses, as they launch in these cities we will launch the service,” Aya said. The executive also said that the telco is in process to evaluate 5G plans, market conditions and the technological infrastructure necessary to support the network in Mexico.
Movistar Mexico has achieved 4G LTE network coverage in 158 cities across the country via network sharing agreements, which represents a population coverage of 72%
Mexican telecom group America Movil expects to double the number of 5G sites in Mexico by the end of the year, America Movil’s CEO Daniel Hajj recently said during a conference call with investors.
Hajj also said that the telco will gradually increase its 5G capex once users migrate from 3G and 4G networks to 5G. “As we can move more customers from 4G to 5G or 3G to 5G then the capex should be more in 5G because we have more customers there and take out some capex on 4G to put it in 5G (…) If we grow faster, than we put more on 5G, if we grow at slower pace we are going to put more on 4G,” he added.
In February, America Movil launched 5G services in 18 of Mexico’s largest cities, reaching more than 48 million people.
The company, which operates in the mobile telephony segment through the Telcel brand, initially launched 5G in Mexico City, Monterrey, Guadalajara, Tijuana and Puebla, among other cities.
Earlier this year, Mexican telecommunications regulator IFT had confirmed that the 5G spectrum auction for mobile services will take place during 2022.
The 5G auction was included in the watchdog’s 2022 work plan, which outlines the bidding process for spectrum blocks in the 600MHz, 3.3GHz and 3.5GHz bands, as well as the L band.
This 5G auction was initially expected to take place in the second half of 2020, but was delayed due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
