Telefonica Moviles Mexico (Movistar) claims to have finished migrating its 3G and 4G data traffic onto AT&T Mexico’s network after the firms signed a last mile agreement in late 2019.
The agreement affords Movistar capacity on AT&T Mexico’s nationwide 3G and 4G networks, and covers future technologies including 5G. As a result of the deal, Movistar returned all of its spectrum in the 1900MHz and 2500MHz at the start of 2020, freeing it from the coverage obligations of the latter band while raising EUR95 million (US$104 million).
Through AT&T’s network, Movistar can deliver its 4G services to 83% of Mexico’s population across 230 sites. CommsUpdate reports that this is a significant increase from the time that the companies signed their network sharing agreement, when these figures stood at 53% population coverage across 38 sites.
Speaking to BNAmericas, Ana de Saracho - Movistar’s Head of Public Services, Regulation and Wholesale – noted that despite the arrangement, Movistar remains an independent operator rather than an MVNO as it still manages its own traffic, customer service and IT systems.
De Saracho noted that as a result of the migration, Movistar has decommissioned 58,000 infrastructure elements, including antennas, batteries and towers. Telefonica has transferred around 13% of the redundant network equipment to other units across its HispAm operations, sold a further 36%, and recycled the remainder.