Entel intends to invest $500Mn in 2009 (Chile)

www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Entel, the Chilean telco, intends to make an investment of nearly USD500million in 2009, of which 80% will be utilized for expanding the company’s 3G network and the rest into fixed line infrastructure.
According to the President Juan Jose Hurtado, the company is concerned that it is not able to participate in the upcoming auction for spectrum in the 1700MHz/2100MHz band, thanks to a Supreme Court ruling on 27 January which stipulated that existing players may not exceed 60MHz of spectrum per operator – which Entel already has. ‘Due to the growth seen in mobile telephony in Chile, we are very close to the limit. That 60MHz was destined essentially for voice. Today, along with voice we have the world of data. As a result, we are very tight on spectrum and to keep growing in the future, we need more spectrum,’ Hurtado said.