Liberty Latin America expands 5G in Puerto Rico with Ericsson

Liberty Latin America is advancing the roll-out of its 5G network in Puerto Rico with new milestones reached with the support of Sweden’s Ericsson.

“In Puerto Rico, our new 5G mobile core and IP stack are operational. We’ve already migrated 35,000 prepaid customers [to 5G plans], a quarter of the base, and we are starting to migrate postpaid customers,” CEO Balan Nair told investors in a Q2 earnings call.

Ericsson was hired as Liberty Latin America’s mobile core network vendor, for unspecified technologies, in June 2020. 

The three-year deal was for encompassed Ericsson’s delivery of virtualized and cloud-based mobile core network solutions to serve Liberty Latin America’s Puerto Rico, Panama and Caribbean islands markets.

That contract, therefore, has expired or is soon to expire. Liberty Latin America did not mention any renewal. On the occasion, Ericsson said that LLA’s core networks would be completely virtualized at the end of the three-year project.

Liberty Puerto Rico is the subsidiary for both Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands, although the bulk of the business is in the former.

In mobile, Liberty Puerto Rico competes with T-Mobile and América Móvil’s Claro. 

According to a May report by OpenSignal, T-Mobile offers the best 5G experience in Puerto Rico. On the other hand, users in Puerto Rico spend the most time with a mobile broadband connection – 3G, 4G or 5G – using Liberty, with a 99.4% availability score, said OpenSignal.

Another key partner for Liberty Puerto Rico’s mobile operation is CRM provider Salesforce.

“We are working with leading global suppliers such as Salesforce and Ericsson to create cutting-edge infrastructure for the market,” Nair told the call.

PERFORMANCE

Costa Rica, Jamaica and Panama were highlights for Liberty Latin America’s mobile and fixed broadband performance in Q2.

Internet subscriber growth was led by the subsidiaries C&W Caribbean and C&W Panama, each generating more than 50% higher net additions year-over-year, according to the company.

Postpaid mobile adds were driven by Costa Rica, where Liberty is now the leading operator by overall market share. As reported by BNamericas, Liberty was one of the companies that expressed interest in Costa Rica's 5G auction.

The company also attributed mobile postpaid expansion to C&W Caribbean, supported by the revival of tourism following the pandemic.

Overall, the group posted 52,000 organic internet and postpaid mobile net adds in the second quarter. 

Liberty Latin America ended Q2 with 3.87mn fixed telecom revenue generating unit (RGUs) and 8mn mobile subscribers, compared to 6.41mn and 7.49mn a year earlier, respectively.

The company said its mobile base declined by 8,000 on an organic basis in the second quarter, as 52,000 organic internet and postpaid mobile net adds were offset by prepaid losses across all markets, although Liberty Costa Rica gained 31,200 mobile subscribers and 2,100 fixed RGUs.

Nair said in the call that synergies from the acquisition of Claro Panama continue to be absorbed but should be more notable in 2024. LLA acquired América Móvil's Panama operations in July 2022.

The CEO also said that the company expects to complete its copper network decommissioning in the country by the end of next year.

“Looking ahead to the second half of the year, we remain confident that we will achieve our 2023 financial guidance targets supported by continued subscriber additions and organic financial momentum, synergies from integration activities, particularly in Panama, and our focus on operating cost and capex discipline,” said Nair.