Venezuelan state-owned cellco Movilnet, a subsidiary of CANTV, has given a progress update confirming its network rollout plans are going according to previously announced targets, having installed at least 600 4G LTE base stations this year while also expanding capacity of around 1,100 3G base stations to improve connection speeds and stability of mobile data and voice services. Movilnet and CANTV also stressed that they are directing investments into strengthening their shared backbone network to ensure the convergence of fixed and mobile networks efficiently.
TeleGeography notes that Movilnet won AWS (1700MHz/2100MHz) and 2600MHz wireless spectrum in December 2014 under 4G mobile licences stipulating coverage of Venezuela’s 20 most populous municipalities in the first year, and a footprint encompassing at least 70% of the population by end-2018. That month the cellular division set a target of deploying 664 4G LTE base stations nationwide within a year, as it gears up to join mobile rivals Digitel and Movistar which have already launched LTE services (the latter most recently in February 2015).