Chilean telecom Entel pegs Capex at $2.2 billion through 2015

Telecom Lead America: Chilean mobile operator Entel is planning to invest $2.2 billion through 2015, with a focus on operations in Chile and Peru.

The company will invest $700 million this year, up from $521 million last year.

Recently, Entel Chile selected Ericsson to supply its 4G / LTE network. The telecom operator in Chile also expanded partnership with Ericsson for its 2G and 3G networks.

The deal is for multi-standard radio access network, Evolved Packet Core with Evolved Packet Gateway on the SSR 8000 family of Smart Services Routers, operation and support system and backhaul transport design.

In April 2013, Entel agreed a $400 million deal for the acquisition of NII Holdings’ Peruvian subsidiary Nextel Peru. Nextel is the third largest operator in Peru, and is well positioned in the enterprise segment.

The deal bodes well for the future growth of Entel, due to the lower penetration of telecoms services in the Peruvian market compared to Chile. One of the major challenges for Entel has been the lack of clear growth opportunities.

However, the operator faces major challenges, as it needs to recover profitable margins in Nextel Peru’s operation, which has had lower levels of Ebitda than Entel in recent years.

Meanwhile, Analysys Mason says telecoms retail revenue in Latin America will grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 3.3 percent between 2012 and 2017. Mobile services will account for about 80 percent of this growth. Increased usage of mobile handset data and mobile broadband services will boost mobile retail revenue at a 4.8 percent CAGR, while fixed retail revenue will grow at a 1.4 percent CAGR.

[email protected]