The Chilean government has finally approved the commercial use of the 700Mhz band for 4G-LTE deployment over two years after the corresponding spectrum auction. The operators Entel, Claro and Movistar were respectively awarded 30MHz, 20MHz and 20MHz of spectrum in the March 2014 auction, but the handover of licences was blocked until August 2015 by a string of legal challenges from Chilean consumer group Conadecus, which accused the operators of spectrum hoarding.
Announcing the government’s approval during a Telecommunications Day event, communications minister Andres Gomez-Lobo confirmed that two of the three operators had already switched on their 700MHz networks ahead of the March 2017 deadline. "With this, Chile remains at the forefront of telecommunications at the regional level, since it is one of the first countries to roll out 4G and the only one with a process designed to ensure coverage at a national level,” said Gomez-Lobo, according to tech website Wayerless.
Under the terms of the licence award, the three operators have until March 2017 to cover 1,281 localities, 854 km of highways and 503 educational establishments, all of which must enjoy the same tariffs as clients in Chile's regional capitals.
