Movistar México has expanded 4G coverage from 37 localities in 2018 to 258 at the end of 3Q21, driven by an agreement with AT&T.
The company is responsible for 72% of population coverage, or 80.8mn people. But high spectrum costs have prompted Movistar to return frequencies and adopt the virtual operator business model.
According to its latest results report, Movistar has migrated 52% of its traffic to AT&T.
"By December 2021 we will have migrated just over 70% of the infrastructure and by June 2022 we will reach 263 [localities], which represents 83% of the population," Movistar México’s director of public affairs, regulation and wholesale business, Ana de Saracho, told BNamericas.
In February, the country’s three mobile operators, including Movistar, signed a social roaming agreement with Altán's shared network to cover small localities. So far, 165,338 people in 1,019 localities in six states have benefited. By February 2022, more than 660,000 people in 6,564 locations will benefit, Movistar said.
"[The agreement with Altán] is an example that infrastructure sharing schemes make it possible to connect the unconnected in a sustainable and innovative way to improve their quality of life and contribute to the progress of their communities," said de Saracho.
Whole network operator Altán is in a bankruptcy process and seeks financing to pay its debts and continue building the infrastructure as planned. The shared network is estimated to require US$70mn and has already raised US$50mn under the commercial bankruptcy process.
Movistar is involved in other infrastructure sharing models in Latin America, including Peru’s IpT, which focuses on rural areas.
De Saracho was confident that the transition to third-party infrastructure won’t affect Movistar customers, but acknowledged that avoiding consequences was a challenge.
"We are becoming a less complex company to operate and this allows us to put more focus on the development of new products and services for our clients," she said.
Movistar is expected to finish migrating its infrastructure to third-party networks next year.
Source: https://www.bnamericas.com/en/news/movistar-mexico-increases-4g-coverage-under-att-deal