Venezuela's Digitel tests 5G for fixed wireless broadband

Venezuelan company Digitel began fixed wireless access tests with 5G in the states of Nueva Esparta and Barinas, using the 3.5GHz band.

“Our goal is to reach, in the first years, 400,000 homes with a high-capacity and quality connection at speeds never seen before in Venezuela,” said Digitel president Luis Bernardo Pérez in a press release.

For the pilot, the company adapted 20 base stations.

In May, when Digitel's spectrum renewal was announced, Pérez said the company had “modernized our entire network, digitizing our processes and virtualizing our platform, in preparation for the implementation of new technologies such as 5G.”

Digitel is the first operator to announce 5G tests in Venezuela, but it is not the only one that has tested the technology. According to Pedro Marín, president of telecommunications chamber Casetel, the country's three operators have all advanced with tests. The other players are Movistar and state telco Movilnet.

Meanwhile, 4G continues to be deployed.

The 2023-2025 telecommunications plan of sector regulator Conatel contemplates the installation of 700 new 4G base stations this year and 800 in 2025.

“I hope that this year, if we do not manage to migrate all 3G to 4G, at least 80% of the base stations should migrate to 4G,” Marín said in January.

The latest market figures published by Conatel at the end of 2022 show Venezuela with 18.4 million mobile users, 47.3% with 4G, 51.6% with 3G, and the remainder with 2G.