5G regulation and law in Chile

5G technology went live a year ago, after ENTEL, MOVISTAR and WOM won licences in the 700MHz, AWS, 3,5GHz, and 26GHz bands. 

The companies, which have deployed a combined 6,600 tower sites, are now offering 5G services to around two million active users, and should cover 90% of the country by next year. 

Telecom companies are offering 5G plans within relevant coverage zones, while continuing to offer 4G or 3G elsewhere. 

Plans are based on a single fee regardless of the technology, although telecom operators have unofficially stated that this could change depending on market dynamics.

Currently, 5G is only available to paid subscribers. 

5G-enabled industrial applications are not yet available, but there are some small-scale, experimental projects in the agriculture, health and smart city sectors.

To enable the launch of 5G, The Supreme Court had to reverse a former rule limiting the concentration of spectrum. After that, new rules for spectrum allocation could be set out. 

This decision also validated the telecoms agency’s (“SUBTEL") new plan for spectrum allocation and the spectrum concentration cap, which aimed to auction 5G frequency in 10MHz blocks to at least four real network operators (“RNOs”).

Successful bidders must follow an efficient spectrum usage plan, provide roaming services to RNOs that hold spectrum but have yet to deploy a network, resell plans to virtual network operators (“VNOs”). 

Current rules mean auctions are geared towards telecom operators, meaning that industrial or other non-telecom companies must access 5G industrial applications through telcos.

5G for special premises is not yet available in the 700MHZ, AWS, 3.5GHz, and 26GHz bands, and would require an agreement with the current licence holders in those bands.

The auction of 5G-compatible spectrum took place in the first quarter of 2021. Operators bid on spectrum blocks in the 700 MHz, AWS, 3.5 GHz and 26 GHz bands. 

700 MHz: WOM won the 20 MHz block. 

AWS: WOM won a 30 MHz block. 

3.5 GHZ: MOVISTAR won five 10 MHz blocks; and ENTEL and WOM won five 10MHz blocks. 

26 GHz: There was no bidding for this block because the spectrum "was enough to satisfy the requirements of all the bidders".

Telcos won these licences, with bids having to meet certain technical and geographic conditions, such service quality, deployment time, and a minimum coverage benchmarks for underserved areas. 

Bidders had to demonstrate that they had the financial capacity to meet the technical objectives. 

When two or more bidders met the technical criteria, the tender was awarded to the highest bidder.

In the 2021 tender:

• The term of the licences is 30 years.
• The service area corresponds to the total coverage area of the base stations committed by each applicant’s technical project. This includes coverage by cities and towns, as well as  complementary coverage in geo-referenced polygons (i.e. hospitals, roads, underserved areas).
• The licensees must provide effective coverage to users within the committed service area, offering the service to any interested party who requests it. 
• The concession equipment, networks and systems use technology that ensures high-capacity, high-speed and low latency mobile services, according to the guidelines provided by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in the IMT-2020 recommendation.
• The technical project must establish communications at 90% of the time and at 90% of the locations, considering uplinks and downlinks, and taking into account the minimum speeds required.
• Licensees must commit to provide 90% coverage nationwide by the third year of beginning services.

When there is more than one bidder, and all of them have fulfilled the minimum technical and technological tender standards, the band is awarded to the highest bidder.

SUBTEL launched a public consultation to understand the views of the public and telcos on rearranging the spectrum allocation in the 3.4-3.6GHz band.

Some telcos responded to suggest that SUBTEL should launch a new tender process to allocate spectrum for 5G in this band, making at least 40MHz available for tender.

In December 2022, the government announced that in March 2023 it would launch a second 5G tender to attract new competitors that did not already hold blocks in the 3.4-3.6 GHz band.

Apart from this, there is no long-term plan for future spectrum tenders.

Other than the 5G auction rules, there are no specific rules for 5G.

SUBTEL opened a sanctioning process against MOVISTAR and WOM, due to delays in deploying the agreed number of towers during their phase one roll-out. 

They may receive a fine, which they would pay using a performance bond submitted during the tender process.

According to the new spectrum allocation criteria, the public 5G tenders require licensees to:

1. Provide roaming services to RNOs that have spectrum but have yet to deploy their networks; and
2. Resell plans to VNOs.

In mid-2020 Law N° 21.245 was enacted to provide a nationwide and permanent framework for automatic roaming. According to this law, telecom public services licensees that have the right to use spectrum must allow the access and the use of their facilities to (i) VNOs, and (ii) other RNO licensees with the right to use spectrum, but that do not have coverage in the visited network or if they are experiencing interruptions in their services due to emergencies.

Shared infrastructure ownership or use is already addressed by applicable law. As a general rule, telecom licensees have a legal right to impose easements on public property and certain private infrastructure, if an agreement is not reached amicably between the interested parties. Moreover, the Supreme Court stated that it was unnecessary to create additional protections for infrastructure sharing.

It is not publicly known whether there are private spectrum sharing agreements in place. 

See question 9, in connection with the provisions of Law N° 21.245 on automatic roaming.

There is no specific regulation limiting technology providers. 

Generally, cyber-security regulations require systems and networks to comply with international standards.