Telefónica Venezuela’s Movistar unit will invest to improve 4G coverage and modernize base stations.
The company said in a release it is carrying out modernization and expansion works at 500 base stations in Caracas and Oriente, as well as expanding its footprint in 32 new areas of the country.
“The recovery of the value of our services, among other variables, allows us to have adequate cash flow to continue investing,” said José Luis Rodríguez Zarco, president of Telefónica Movistar in Venezuela.
The liberalization of telecommunications prices and the possibility of accessing foreign currency has energized a sector that had cooled in recent years due to the political and macroeconomic context.
“We are focused on expanding our coverage, modernizing our platforms, recovering affected stations and preparing for new technologies such as voice over LTE and 5G,” Rodríguez added.
The Spanish-owned company said it will conduct 5G tests as part of preparation for when their rollout begins.
Movistar is the second operator to announce 5G tests, after Digitel said at the beginning of the month that it would begin testing the technology for fixed wireless broadband services.
Movistar said that in the last 18 months it has carried out more than 1,300 deployments to strengthen LTE coverage.
Venezuela expects to migrate at least 80% of its base stations to 4G this year, according to Pedro Marín, president of telecommunications chamber Casetel. Movistar is the operator with the largest number of installed radio bases with 3,000 sites.
Movistar has close to a 50% share of the Venezuelan smartphone market and more than half of mobile network traffic.
In addition to 4G, the company is investing in fiber optics. Recently, it launched business fiber optic internet throughout Venezuela. The company provides services to more than 97,000 corporate and SME clients in the country.
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Source: https://www.bnamericas.com/en/news/movistar-modernizing-500-venezuela-4g-stations