Claro became the first operator to launch a 5G network in Paraguay by announcing the official start of the new mobile technology in the country.
With an initial investment of US$35 million (mn), the subsidiary of América Móvil began offering 5G in metropolitan areas such as Greater Asunción, Ciudad del Este, Encarnación, Coronel Oviedo and Pedro Juan Caballero, among others.
“This investment is only the beginning: next year we will continue with a sustained expansion to cover more of the national territory,” said Alfredo Alcaraz, general manager of Claro Paraguay, in a press release.
The rollout is being carried out with infrastructure from Nokia and uses a total of 200MHz in the 3.5GHz band. For this portion of spectrum, acquired in September, the company paid US$2mn.
The contract with Nokia includes base radio stations, baseband units, and the latest generation of Massive MIMO radios. In the project, Nokia also implemented interleaved passive active antennas (IPAA+, for its acronym in English), which make it possible to speed up the deployment of 5G thanks to their compact and modular design, capable of overcoming the difficulties of finding additional space for the installation of a new mobile technology.
In accordance with the bidding terms, for every 100MHz awarded, each licensee must deploy at least 100 radio base stations nationwide, of which 10% must serve facilities of government agencies and entities selected by Conatel and the Ministry of ICT.
Source: https://www.bnamericas.com/en/news/claro-activates-paraguays-first-5g-network
