Entel Chile begins marketing fiber under deal with OnNet

Chilean operator Entel began marketing broadband internet through the fiber network of OnNet Fibra, following December antitrust approval of an agreement to sell Entel's fiber optic infrastructure to OnNet.

The new offering is available in 160 districts in 13 regions of the country.

OnNet Fibra, a joint venture between Telefónica and KKR, acquired Entel's fiber network for US$432mn. The agreement included a deal for the use of the fiber network by Entel after its sale.

The acquisition of the Entel network gives OnNet a total of more than 4mn homes passed with fiber, or around 73% of the number of homes in Chile.

With the agreement, Entel will more than triple the number of homes passed by the end of 2024.

Entel is one of the smallest operators in the fixed internet market in Chile, with a 6.7% share and just over 319,000 subscribers including fiber optics, old ADSL copper networks and wireless technologies, according to data from regulator Subtel as of end-September 2023.

With a network of just over 2mn homes passed, as of September Entel had over 264,000 fiber optic connections, mostly through its subsidiary Entelphone.

Entel plans to expand its share of the fiber market at around five percentage points per year until it reaches 25%.

According to the data from its latest results report, Entel ended the year with 243,000 fiber optic connections. Fiber sales represent 74% of the Entel Hogar unit's total revenue. Penetration of connections as a proportion of homes passed was 19.6%.

According to Subtel, Telefónica, though its Movistar brand, led both the fixed internet and fiber optic markets with 31.2% and 44% of the market, respectively, at end-September 2023.

Mundo Pacífico is the second biggest fiber optic operator with 26% of total connections.

WOM has 6.6%, VTR 3.7% and GTD 3.2% of the fiber optic market, respectively.