Uruguay's Antel expands mobile coverage in Canelones, tenders 5G equipment

Uruguayan state-owned telco Antel is expanding its mobile coverage in Canelones department, while moving to acquire 5G-ready equipment for clients.

The company activated a new antenna at a school in the municipality of Cruz de los Caminos on June 12, after an agreement between Antel and public education administration Anep, according to a company document.

The new antenna will enable greater coverage and capacity for the institution, as well as for residents of the area, Antel said. The telco did not state what transmission technology the antenna would use, although it is thought to be 4G.

Antel is the leading mobile carrier in Uruguay and it owned 46% (3,225) of the country’s 6,947 mobile antennas at end-2022, according to official statistics. 

Canelones department on the south coast of the country is the second best connected in Uruguay, with 844 (12%) of the country’s antennas.

As of the end of 2022, Antel had over 3.5mn mobile accesses, of which 88% were 4G LTE, 11% 3G and 1% 2G. Prepaid lines accounted for over 54% of its client base.

Antel led the mobile market with a 49.3% share as the end of 2022, up from 47.4% 12 months earlier. 

5G-READY CPES

In related news, Antel launched a call for the acquisition of thousands of 5G-ready pieces of customer premise equipment (CPE), it stated in a separate document.

“The equipment to be acquired has the objective of providing the terminal to the different Antel clients,” the tender description stated. 

The call comes after Antel secured spectrum in the country’s 5G auction, held last month.

Antel obtained 100MHz in the 3.5GHz band, which was already reserved for its use. Meanwhile, Movistar and Claro presented bids and snapped up two 100MHz blocks in 3.5GHz that were on sale.

As part of the call, Antel is procuring 5G/LTE sub 6GHz “indoor” CPEs and related equipment, according to the tender specification.

It is also procuring 5G/LTE/(VoLTE/VoNR or VoIP) equipment, consisting of an indoor unit (IDU), an outdoor unit (ODU), in addition to PoE injector, anchor kit and ethernet cable.

Antel is looking for a “minimum” of 4,000 items for each of these two solutions, to be delivered in 120 days. According to Antel, bids must be submitted by June 26. 

The call details, including the equipment specifications, can be found here, in Spanish, under the ID code P103842.