Unifique targets January mobile launch

Santa Catarina-based ISP Unifique, which was part of a consortium that successfully bid on Brazilian 5G spectrum last year, has disclosed plans to launch mobile services as early as January 2023. In remarks quoted by TeleTime, chief financial officer Jose Wilson Junior told investors that the mobile proposition will initially leverage network sharing and roaming agreements, with the company expected to deploy its own cell sites from 2026.

According to TeleGeography’s GlobalComms Database, Unifique – alongside fellow fixed line operator Ligga Telecom (then known as Copel Telecom) – successfully bid on a regional 3.5GHz licence in November 2021’s 5G spectrum auction. Via the ‘Consorcio 5G Sul’ consortium the companies agreed to pay BRL73.6 million (USD13.3 million) for an 80MHz block of spectrum (3620MHz-3700MHz), while ‘goodwill’ of approximately BRL69 million will be converted into investment commitments serving locations in the south of the country. (Note: Unifique holds a 62.77% stake in the JV, while Copel owns the remaining 37.23% share.) In other news, Unifique has disclosed that it ended the third quarter of 2022 with a total of 600,325 fixed broadband subscriptions, up from 424,736 year-on-year. The 3Q22 figure was boosted by the 15 August takeover of Sygo (82,587 subscriptions), which represented the ISP’s twelfth acquisition in the last 18 months.