Personal Paraguay expands 4G LTE coverage

Paraguayan mobile operator Personal has expanded its 4G LTE coverage despite an ongoing probe by telecoms regulator Conatel about the legality of its December 4G launch.

Personal, which is a unit of Telecom Argentina, snubbed an auction for the 1700-2100 MHz band in 2015, saying the spectrum was too expensive, and launched a 4G service in December using the 1900 MHz band. The launch came days after Conatel awarded 4G spectrum in the 1700-2100MHz bands (AWS) to Tigo and Claro. The regulator blasted Personal for launching the service without authorization.

The LTE service was initially available in capital Asunción. According to the operator's website, it is now also available in Encarnación, San Bernardino, Caaguazú, Ciudad del Este, Salto del Guaira, Coronel Oviedo, Santaní, Villa Hayes, J.E, Estigarribia and Concepción.

Auctions for additional spectrum for 4G in the 700MHz and 2.6GHz bands that were slated for mid-year will be delayed until the end of 2016, Conatel head Teresita Palacios was reported as saying by local newspaper ABC.

According to Palacios, the idea is to allow Claro and Tigo to begin to recover some of the investments from the AWS auction.

Palacios added that the 700MHz band is still being cleaned of analog TV channels.