Colombia Movil, the Colombian wireless network operator which is majority owned by Millicom International Cellular (MIC) and operates under the Tigo banner, expects to launch 3G services in the second half of this year, writes BNamericas citing local news service Portafolio. President Jose Manuel Astigarraga said that the company will select its preferred 3G equipment provider at the end of this week, but declined to give further details on the expected investment. Colombia Movil is currently waiting on a government decision on its request for 10MHz of additional spectrum.
According to TeleGeography’s GlobalComms database, although maintaining steady subscriber growth, by the end of September 2007 Colombia Movil was still struggling to make an impression in the market, accounting for just 7.5% of total subscribers. It has attempted to boost take-up of its services by expanding its coverage and rolling out 2.5G and 2.75G data services to more areas, investing USD170 million in 2007 alone. By September 2007 it had 87% GSM/GPRS coverage. It began rolling out an EDGE platform in early 2005 but services remain limited to the metropolitan areas; it eventually plans to build out an EDGE-capable network across most of its GSM coverage area.