Colombian operator Empresa de Telecomunicaciones de Bogota (ETB) has signed an agreement with Latin American wholesale fibre operator Ufinet to create a company that will commercialise a neutral Fiber To The Home (FTTH) network in the wholesale telecommunications market throughout the Bogota region. The network will begin with a footprint of more than 1.2 million homes, with the partners aiming to double that figure to around 2.5 million homes within 3 years.
ETB and Ufinet said the aim is to allow more families in the Bogota region to have ultra-broadband access at speeds of around 300 Mbps. If successful, Bogota will have the largest fibre-optic network coverage in Latin America by the end of 2024, said the partners, adding that the operation is subject to pre-evaluation by Colombia’s Superintendency of Industry and Commerce.
ETB is the main telecommunications operator in Bogota, with the Capital District retaining a majority stake in the company. Last year ETB committed to investing some CLP 1.2 trillion (around USD 330 million) over 4 years on expanding its fibre-optic coverage to 90 percent of the capital’s metropolitan area.
Ufinet is a neutral telecommunications network infrastructure operator owned by Italian energy giant Enel and private equity firm Cinven. It already has more than 75,000 km of optical fibre deployed in Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Brazil, Paraguay, Argentina and Chile.
