Chilean telecommunications regulator Subtel announced that the country’s president Sebastian Pinera has signed a congressional bill requiring operators to share their infrastructure to boost coverage in digital divide areas. In a statement, the watchdog said the National Automatic Roaming Law is mainly designed to benefit users who live or travel to rural or isolated areas, where there are greater connectivity issues.
Operators will have to negotiate fees to access their respective networks as customers cannot be charged extra for roaming on to rival networks, said the regulator, without providing further details. Argentina's government announced a similar move earlier this year.
Subtel head Pamela Gidi said the initiative is part of the president’s commitment to ensure the connectivity of all Chileans. “With this project we will generate more competition and telecommunications users will no longer need to have two or three SIM cards to be able to make calls or connect to the internet," she said.