4G LTE network to boost mobile subs in Colombia
June 29, 2018
With 58.4 million subscriptions by the end of 2017, the Colombian mobile market was the fourth largest in Latin America, accounting for 8.3 per cent of the region’s mobile subscriptions, according to GlobalData, a data and analytics company.
Over the next five years, mobile operators will add a combined 5.2 million subscriptions to the market, bringing the country’s total to 63.5 million by 2022. boost mobile subs in Colombia.
Leandro Agion, Technology Analyst at GlobalData, comments: “While 3G technology accounted for the majority of mobile subscriptions in Colombia at the end of 2017, 4G has been rapidly gaining momentum. We expect 4G to overtake 3G as the most popular mobile technology by 2022, accounting for 60.2 per cent of total active subscriptions. 4G adoption will be driven by increasing adoption of smartphones and as operators expand their 4G Long-Term Evolution (LTE) network.”
To support the increasing coverage of LTE, in July 2016, the Colombian government announced plans to auction spectrum in the 700MHz band for the deployment of LTE services. The process, which has remained in standby since then, could now reactivate as MinTIC announced its intention to resume the auction during the second half of 2018.