Telecom Argentina plans to expand its 5G Standalone (5G SA) network in certain corridors with high-income customers during 2024, news site DPL reported.
“This year what we have planned is to provide coverage to our portfolio of important clients. Buenos Aires City and the northern region of the Buenos Aires metropolitan area is as a large corridor where we are deploying before June,” Roberto Nobile, CEO of Telecom Argentina, was quoted as saying.
Nobile also said that the carrier will also start 5G deployments in the cities of Cordoba and Rosario during 2024.
The executive said that the number of 5G-ready smartphones in the country is still low, adding that only 8% of Telecom Argentina’s customers have 5G-ready devices.
“As demand begins to increase, we will advance [with 5G deployments]. Demand is going to be slow because this is a year of macroeconomic crisis and an incipient recession, which means that all device replacement will also be slowed down,” Nobile said.
The telco claimed to be the first operator in the country to launch 5G Standalone technology. Telecom Argentina’s first 5G Standalone (5G SA) antennas were deployed in large urban concentrations in the Buenos Aires metropolitan area (AMBA) last year.
During January, the telco deployed a number of 5G antennas in the seaside cities of Mar del Plata, Pinamar and Cariló using the spectrum recently tendered through an auction.
“After an investment of more than $350 million, we acquired a 100 megahertz block in the 3.5 GHz spectrum band, which will allow us to expand the 5G networks that we began to build in 2021. This is a significant milestone to enable all the potential of 5G and consolidates the path of constant evolution of our infrastructure, based on a solid and continuous investment plan that materializes our commitment to the country and its people,” Telecom Argentina previously said.
Telecom Argentina operates in the mobile telephony segment under the Personal brand.
In October 2023, Argentine operators Claro, Movistar and Personal secured spectrum for the provision of 5G services in a tender carried out by the government.
The government obtained $875 million for the frequencies, less than the initial expectation of $1.05 billion.
Claro is owned by Mexican telecommunications group America Movil. Movistar is owned by Spanish telco Telefonica, while Personal is owned by Telecom Argentina.
The National Communications Entity (Enacom) had said the first block of 100 megahertz in the 3.3-3.4 GHz band it was acquired by Claro for $350 million, while Personal committed to pay $350 million for a block of 100 megahertz in the 3.4-3.5 GHz band. Meanwhile, Movistar secured a block of 50 megahertz in the 3.55-3.6 GHz band for $175 million. The regulator said that another block of 50 megahertz in the 3.5 GHz band remained vacant.
5G subscribers in Argentina are expected to reach 34.7 million by 2030, up compared to 5.7 million in 2025, according to a report by telecom association GSMA.
The GSMA report showed that 5G penetration in Argentina is expected to reach 9% by 2025 while it would expand to 48% by 2030.
Source: https://www.rcrwireless.com/20240313/5g/telecom-argentina-boost-5g-sa-coverage-this-year-report