- Ana de Saracho O’Brien wants regulators to make it easier for operators to share active equipment.
- Exec frets about “over‑runs in infrastructure investment” to provide rural connectivity.
Ana de Saracho O’Brien, Director of Public Affairs, Regulation and Wholesale Business at Telefónica México (Movistar), once gain extolled the business and environmental benefits of infrastructure sharing.
She also called on regulators to “review public policies” to make it easier for operators to pool network resources, including active equipment sharing, to avoid duplicating investment.
In a guest blog for El Financiero, de Saracho set the scene of steadily growing internet usage in Mexico — currently 75.6% population penetration (88.6 million Mexicans) — coupled with a persistently large digital divide, which acts as a brake on the country’s economic growth. In Mexico’s rural areas, she pointed out, only 5% of people have a network connection; in urban areas the penetration rate is 81.6%.
The truth is, bringing basic [internet access] to the entire population is more complex than we imagine. Therefore, if we want our societies to enjoy sustainable and inclusive connectivity, we need to review public policies and regulations that generate cost over‑runs in infrastructure investments, as well as promote sharing agreements, where [telcos] can use the same active infrastructure to radiate different signals independently. ”
de Saracho.
Aside from reducing the costs of deploying and operating new infrastructure, de Saracho maintained that network sharing has potential to “accelerate commercialisation of services”.
On‑the‑ground benefits
de Saracho highlighted LTE coverage and environmental headway made by Movistar since it embarked in earnest on its “pioneering” asset‑light model in late‑2019 through network deals with wholesale network venture Altán Redes and AT&T (Telefónicawatch, #139, #152, and #159).
During the three‑year period until 2022, she said, Movistar’s LTE population coverage has jumped from 53% to 83%. In rural areas, de Saracho added, the operator has extended 4G connectivity to more than 3,620 localities in 19 states, benefiting more than 466,000 inhabitants.
Moreover, she continued, Movistar has managed to reduce its carbon footprint, creating savings of about 32.6 kilowatt‑hours, thanks to the dismantling of more than 2,500 sites with in excess of 92,000 elements. Of those elements, de Saracho asserted, more than half have been recycled.
Easy pieces
In December 2019, Movistar committed to an eight‑year network‑sharing deal with AT&T, allowing it to use its 3G and 4G access infrastructure, as well as any future access technology (Telefónicawatch, #139).
Movistar kept control of its transport network and all operations platforms, ensuring control over its customer base and operational and business support functions. At the time, the operating business said it expected the agreement to have a positive impact on cash flow of €230m starting from year three and to reduce net debt by €500m.
Movistar Chief Executive Camilo Aya flagged recently that the migration to AT&T’s network will start generating financial savings from November 2022. Previously, Telefónica had declared Movistar’s agreement with AT&T as one of the leading drivers for improvements in working capital in the Telefónica Hispanoamérica segment, and a contributor to the operator’s improving profitability (Telefónicawatch, #160).
For Movistar, the network‑sharing agreement is not just about cost savings, although that is a significant motivation. It also ticks strategic boxes, as de Saracho pointed out, in the operator’s sustainability goals.
Following the traffic migration, completed in August 2022, Movistar is now dismantling its access infrastructure, and 30% of the equipment is planned to be reused to support rollouts in Mexico and elsewhere across the Telefónica footprint (Telefónicawatch, #162 and #164).
According to de Saracho, as previously reported by BNAmericas, the operator expects to finish taking the infrastructure down by 2024.
