
Telecom Argentina to finish 5G core deployment in 2024
Telecom Argentina said it has begun the deployment of an autonomous 5G core in preparation for the spectrum auction that sector regulator Enacom plans to hold in the first quarter of 2023.
With the aim of ending the process in 2024, the company has been deploying 5G in dynamic spectrum sharing (DSS) mode and plans to end 2022 with more than 160 sites. The goal for next year is 200 5G sites, not counting those additional ones that could be deployed if spectrum is freed up.
Enacom plans to auction 5G spectrum in the 3.5GHz band.
"We will have to see the spectrum details, how the tender is designed and if that motivates us to invest...[this will determine] the deployment of the sites," CTO Miguel Fernández told reporters at local business chamber ATVC’s international conference in Buenos Aires.
The 5G core network that the company is deploying is provided by Chinese giant Huawei, Fernández told BNamericas on the sidelines of the conference.
Telecom CEO Roberto Nobile said the company will invest US$350mn in the project.
Nearly 700,000 phones have been connected to the 5G sites that Telecom has activated, said Fernández. On average, around 55,000 devices are being connected daily to the operator's network.
The figure does not represent the total number of devices that could be connected since Apple phones are excluded due to that company's own restrictions until the 5G spectrum is released, according to Telecom.
Apple phones make up close to 7% of the Argentine market, according to figures from consultancy firm Carrier & Asociados.
5G tests
Telecom is in the process of making 5G network tests using temporary spectrum in the 26GHz band. The company is also performing tests in different industries to develop use cases for the new technology.
“We are testing image control solutions with some automotive companies in an alliance with Google. We are also looking at the mining industry, which has very complex Wi-Fi networks that do not fully meet their needs," Fernández said, adding that the tests are private network projects that have been implemented with Nokia, Cisco and Huawei.
3G blackout
Telecom is also moving forward with its 3G shutdown to reuse the spectrum for 4G and the speed of the process depends on phones being able to use voice services over LTE (VoLTE).
"We expect to have all the devices capable of supporting VoLTE in 2024," said Fernández.
Asked by BNamericas about a potential 2G shutdown, the executive said this process will take much longer because there are many devices, such as those for vehicle control, that operates with 2G.
Subscribe to the most trusted business intelligence platform in Latin America. Let us show you our solutions for Suppliers, Contractors, Operators, Government, Legal, Financial and Insurance.
News in: ICT (Argentina)

Argentina: Knowledge Economy allocates $950 million to strengthen the national satellite and aerospace industry
The Knowledge Economy Secretariat launched the second call for the program to Promote the Satellite and Aerospace Industry.

Telecom allies with Ituran in cybersecurity solution
To provide the service, exhaustive tests are carried out on the vulnerabilities detected in the systems, in order to identify those that may compro...
Subscribe to Latin America’s most trusted business intelligence platform.
Other projects in: ICT
Get critical information about thousands of ICT projects in Latin America: what stages they're in, capex, related companies, contacts and more.
- Project: FON project (five of the six macrozones)
- Current stage:
- Updated:
1 year ago
- Project: Cable Submarino Caribbean Express (CX)
- Current stage:
- Updated:
2 weeks ago
- Project: Datacenter Rio de Janeiro 2
- Current stage:
- Updated:
9 months ago
- Project: Antarctic Submarine Cable
- Current stage:
- Updated:
1 year ago
- Project: Submarine cable
- Current stage:
- Updated:
1 year ago
- Project: Cloud Region in Colombia
- Current stage:
- Updated:
1 year ago
- Project: Cerrillos Data Center
- Current stage:
- Updated:
1 year ago
- Project: Deep Blue One Subsea Cable Extension
- Current stage:
- Updated:
1 year ago
- Project: Datacenter SP5
- Current stage:
- Updated:
9 months ago
- Project: Second data center (Fortaleza)
- Current stage:
- Updated:
9 months ago
Other companies in: ICT (Argentina)
Get critical information about thousands of ICT companies in Latin America: their projects, contacts, shareholders, related news and more.
- Company: Comisión Nacional de Actividades Espaciales  (CONAE)
-
Argentina's space activity commission (Conae) is a government agency tasked with the design and execution of the nation's space program, which consists of collecting information...
- Company: Argencobra, S.A.  (Argencobra)
-
Argencobra S.A. is a subsidiary of Spanish Grupo Cobra, part of the Spanish construction giant Grupo ACS. Its activities are focused on construction, maintenance and repair of e...
- Company: Marval, O'Farrell & Mairal
- Company: Marubeni Argentina S.A.  (Marubeni Argentina)
-
Marubeni Argentina is the local subsidiary of Marubeni Corporation, a Japanese conglomerate with international reach that operates in a variety of sectors, including ICT, real e...
- Company: Aeroterra
-
Aeroterra is an Argentine technology company that develops solutions and services within the framework of Geographic Information Systems (GIS). The solutions it offers includes ...