Entel Chile

Company Overview

Entel is the largest telecommunications company in Chile with a history spanning over 50 years. Founded in 1964 by the Chilean government, the company was privatised in 1992. By 2001 a majority controlling stake was secured by Telecom Italia Group, only to be sold off in 2005 to Chilean holding company Almendral. Entel is listed on the Santiago Stock Exchange under stock symbol ENTEL.

The company operates 2G services over 1900 MHz, and a 3G HSPA+ network over B2 (1900 MHz). In March 2014 Entel launched 4G LTE over B7 (2600 MHz) after securing 20 MHz (paired) of 2.6 GHz spectrum in July 2012. APT700 spectrum was introduced by the national regulator in May 2016, and Entel subsequently launched a B28 (700 MHz) LTE-A network, using carrier aggregation to provide up to 300 Mbps downlink.

Through strategic partnership with Ericsson, Entel announced in October 2017 its intention to deploy Massive MIMO, a first for Chile, and a number of network modernisation projects to push forward towards 5G. The company conducted further tests in partnership with Ericsson, with a June 2018 5G test achieving 24 Gbps over the n257 (28 GHz) band. The tests also included a showcasing of advanced 5G technologies that include massive MIMO, massive beamforming, distributed MIMO, multi-user MIMO, and Beam Tracking.