How Uruguay’s Antel is flexing its muscles internationally

Uruguayan state-run telco Antel is not only a domestic market leader, with 46% of the country's mobile connections and 99% of fixed broadband accesses, but also an increasingly international player with B2B offerings spreading to Brazil, Argentina and beyond.

“Antel is a Uruguayan company, located within Uruguay, but for the company, having an expanded presence in South America is strategic, especially considering its submarine cables and its interconnection and data capacity businesses,” Fernando López Rodríguez, Antel's manager for Brazil, told BNamericas.

In addition to its South American neighbors, the company has a subsidiary in the US and serves customers, through use of third-party infrastructure, in Chile.

In Brazil, Antel has been legally established since 2017. It was in the last four years, however, that the telco started to sell its services in the country more actively, according to the executive.

The exact number of corporate clients is not revealed, but Antel is a partner, along with Algar Telecom, Angola Cables (TelCables Brasil) and Google in the submarine cable Monet.

Monet is a 10,556km cable connecting Boca Raton in the US to Fortaleza and Praia Grande in Brazil.

Antel also co-owns with Google another LatAm cable, the 2,000km long Tannat, connecting Uruguay to Argentina and Brazil and which also links to Monet to reach the US.

It was this combined Tannat-Monet system that allowed Antel to effectively become an international player in B2B connectivity and diversify its revenue sources.

But if in Uruguay the telco enjoys a relatively comfortable market presence, in Argentina and, above all, in Brazil, there are a large number of local and multinational companies offering interconnection, data traffic, hosting and peering services.

“The market is getting more aggressive every day. There are many companies that are trying to prevail in the market and that may not have the economic support that Antel has,” said the executive, who spoke to BNamericas during a recent ISP event in São Paulo.

López Rodríguez says many companies are offering prices that are too aggressive and that in his view would not be sustainable in the medium and long term.

“Antel's positioning is to be competitive not only in price, but also offering the differential of its network, quality, SLA [service level agreement].”

COMPETITION

Regarding the Firmina proprietary cable, for own use, that Google should soon activate connecting the US East Coast to Las Toninas, Argentina, with landing points in Praia Grande and Uruguay’s Punta del Este, López Rodríguez does not see a major problem in the initiative.

Google's exclusive cable basically has the same route and similar landing points as Monet. However, the Antel executive said that “they are different businesses, with different interests.”

“I see with good eyes companies building more cables, the fact that they’re increasing their participation in the region, with local content and local presence. It's good for everyone. Firmina will not necessarily take traffic away from Monet.”

In addition to Monet and Tannat, Antel owns the Bicentenario and Unisur proprietary cables connecting Argentina to Uruguay, and has a participation (fiber usage) in the Malbec and BRUSA cables.

Malbec is co-owned by GlobeNet (V.tal) and Meta and connects Argentina to Brazil, while BRUSA is owned by Telxius and connects Brazil to the US.

EXPANSIONS

For now, Antel has no projects for new submarine cables, either in consortiums or on its own, said the executive.

The focus is rather on expanding the points of presence (PoPs) and interconnection points in Brazil, Chile and Argentina, as well as in the US and Europe.

“We’re looking to add some points of presence in Chile and reach other exchange points in other countries in South America as well,” López Rodríguez said.

Currently, Antel has 14 PoPs in datacenters in Brazil, most of which are in São Paulo and Rio Grande do Sul state, followed by Rio de Janeiro and Fortaleza.

“Antel has a position in Rio Grande do Sul [on the border with Uruguay], particularly in Porto Alegre, which is quite a differential. It’s the only provider offering a southern exit from that state. All other providers offer the north exit, to São Paulo,” the country manager said.

Among the firm's main customers in Brazil and Argentina are internet service providers and large content and internet companies.

DOMESTIC BUSINESS

In Uruguay, regarding B2C Antel just announced the activation of its 5G network in four of the country's 19 departments: Montevideo, Canelones, Colonia and Maldonado.

The service is expected to gradually expand to cover the entire territory in the upcoming weeks, beginning with Flores, Río Negro and Paysandú.

The activation comes after the company secured 100MHz in the 3.5GHz band, which was already reserved for its use, in the country’s 5G auction held in May.

In 2019, Antel launched the first commercial 5G network in Latin America, initially on a trial basis in small towns.