The ambitious plans of Argentine MVNO Imowi

Argentine MVNO Imowi is seeking to accelerate the deployment of its mobile infrastructure in remote locations and has ambitious plans for 2025.

“One reason is that there are no antennas in those areas and it's a matter of profitability,” Ariel Fernández Alvarado, president of the Catel cooperative chamber, the main promoter of Imowi, told BNamericas.

Last year, the company announced an agreement with Movistar to deploy infrastructure in underserved areas in partnership with local players.

Since then, efforts have been made to reduce site deployment costs to improve project economics. Cost reductions were achieved through better site design, more cost-effective civil works, cheaper electricity and even electronics.

“We managed to reduce the cost of a 4G site by a third,” Fernández said.

Huawei equipment is used for this deployment.

Imowi plans to deploy up to 50 mobile sites by 2025 in localities with fewer than 3,000 residents.

In February, the first radio base station was inaugurated in El Salado, Catamarca province, and the newest site was launched on November 29 in Batán, Buenos Aires province. The deployment was carried out together with the Batán cooperative.

In the coming months, four more sites will be inaugurated in Formosa province, four in Catamarca and four in San Juan.

In Formosa and Catamarca, work was carried out together with provincial authorities and business group Colsecor. In San Juan, the provincial government also provided support.

This partnership with local stakeholders makes the project economically viable, reducing costs and facilitating permit approvals and spaces to deploy the infrastructure.

According to Fernández, the implementation of these first sites will allow the company to "get into a different rhythm" and accelerate deployment.

Imowi members include the cooperatives of Tortuguitas, Del Viso, Batán, Pinamar and Gobernador Gálvez. In the next two months, two SMEs from Patagonia will join the network.

Fernández said the incorporation of these two local fixed operators will give the MVNO a strong boost.

Imowi currently has around 20,000 customers and is growing at a rate of 3,000 lines per month.