Argentina’s National Communications Agency (Ente Nacional de Comunicaciones, ENACOM) has stated that the last two years have seen the total number of 4G base transceiver stations (BTS) in service increase more than 150%, from 7,600 to more than 20,000 – delivering coverage to more than 58% of the population.
Going forward, as part of its Plan Nacional de Comunicaciones (National Communications Plan) objectives, ENACOM seeks to increase this figure to 93% by the end of 2019, by ensuring rollouts in 1,713 towns containing more than 10,000 inhabitants, as well as encouraging connectivity along 9,961km of unserved roads and in 200 small tourist locations which still lack access to a ‘quality’ mobile broadband service.
As such, the watchdog has unveiled a new programme aimed at boosting 4G connectivity in the Atlantic Coast region. Named ‘Verano Conectado’ (‘Connected Summer’), the plan will see the country’s three largest mobile operators by subscribers – Claro, Personal and Movistar – deploy an extra 80 LTE-capable BTS in popular beach resorts and the roads linking these locations to Buenos Aires, complementing the 1,000 4G cell sites already in service along the coast.