Entel hits one million 5G subscriptions milestone

Chilean full-service provider Entel claims to have signed up one million 5G customers, ten months after launching the service in December 2021. In a statement from the provider Entel acknowledged that it launched with coverage of 33 communes in the Metropolitan Region and now provides 5G in more than 270 communes across the country. Entel has set aside USD350 million for its 5G rollout over the 2021-2023 period and completed the first phase of its deployment in August. In addition to its network expansion Entel has also increased the availability of 5G compatible handsets, noting that it now offers 64 such devices and that four of the ten most-purchased handsets are 5G-compatible. As such, 5G compatible devices now make up 55% of the company’s smartphone sales.

Entel highlighted the speed with which it reached one million 5G users from launch in comparison to previous generations, noting that it took 57 months to sign up one million 3G customers, 19 months for 4G to reach the same milestone and just ten months for 5G. The same trend has been identified on a global scale by TeleGeography’s GlobalComms Forecast Service, which notes that even accounting for a larger pool effect – that is, the total subscription market in the 5G-era is larger than in the 4G-era which in turn was larger than in the 3G-era – it is clear that each generation takes a bigger share of the total at a faster rate than the preceding generation.