This year marked a milestone for the Chilean wireless telecom market with the arrival of new operators and increased competition. The new operators, including Virgin Mobile, VTR Móvil, Nextel, GTD Móvil and Netline, added 200,000 subscribers between April and September according to numbers compiled by Chilean telecom regulator Subtel.
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Subtel secretary Jorge Atton said that the mobile virtual network operators have added freshness to the market, noting that Virgin, which launched service in April, is one competitor that has understood the government’s goals of lower prepaid prices.
Looking ahead, Errázuriz expects that next year will consolidate the commercial supply of new companies like Virgin, which has invested heavily in price segmentation and transparency without discrimination between rates at different companies. He also expects the quality of service to improve substantially as traditional companies launch LTE services and more entrants join the market.
Last week, Chilean retailer Falabella announced that it will launch MVNO services using the network infrastructure of Chilean mobile operator Entel. Dubbed Falabella Móvil, the MVNO said it will focus on Falabella’s existing customers, offering customized solutions and quick access to Falabella stores.
Interest in launching MVNOs in Latin America has been building for some time, as noted in RCR Wireless News’ feature report (check it out here).
