As of the end of June, Entel had 1.20 million active customers in the 5G segment
Chilean operator Entel said it has completed the second and final phase of its 5G rollout project.
Entel claimed to be the first carrier in Chile to fully complete the second phase of the 5G project. The company also revealed that a total of 311 communes, or geographic regions, across the country are now equipped with 5G technology.
Entel reported that it completed its 5G deployment two months ahead of schedule. During the first phase of the 5G rollout, the carrier activated a total of 1,105 new base stations in 270 communes across Chile. During phase 2, it added 266 new base stations in 41 Chilean communes, bringing the total to 1,371 new base station activations in 311 communes.
The company also highlighted it has deployed 5G antennas in aerodromes, airports, scientific interest areas, universities and ports for the provision of complementary 5G services.
As of the end of June, Entel had 1.20 million active customers in the 5G segment, representing 16% of its total customer base. Also, 5G traffic represented almost 7% of its total mobile traffic as of the end of the first half of the year.
Entel has an existing agreement with Ericsson to integrate the Swedish vendor’s private 5G solution into its offerings. In October 2022, Entel and Ericsson announced their partnership, with Entel planning to incorporate Ericsson’s private 5G solution and collaborate with communications service providers for the provision of private networks.
Ericsson and Entel had conducted a number of 5G private networks pilots spanning various industries, including health, smart factories, agriculture and forestry and transport management.
With the completion of the second phase of Entel’s 5G network, new use cases are expected to emerge in industries such as health, smart cities, among other sectors, the telco said.
In February 2021, Chile completed what it claimed to be the first tender to assign 5G spectrum in Latin America.
The country’s telecommunications watchdog Subtel said that the government raised $453 million in four rounds (700 MHz, AWS, 3.5 GHz and 26 GHz), which is 512% more than what was collected in all previous spectrum tenders combined.
Subtel said that a total of 1.8 gigahertz was awarded for mobile broadband.
Mobile operators Movistar, Entel and WOM had secured 50 megahertz of 3.5 GHz spectrum each in the spectrum auction.
WOM, which is controlled by U.K. fund Novator Partners, had also secured additional frequencies in the process. WOM won a 20 megahertz block in the 700 MHz band, 30 megahertz in the AWS band, and 50 megahertz in the 3.5 GHz band, paying around $150 million.
Claro and Entel also secured additional spectrum in the 26 GHz band.
