Luxembourg-based Millicom International Cellular (MIC) has revealed that the planned merger between its Tigo-branded Colombian unit and state-backed telco Une-EPM is being considered by the regulatory bodies for TV – Autoridad Nacional de Television (ANTV) – and finance, Superintendencia Financieras (SIF). MIC expects the two watchdogs to announce their decision shortly, allowing the merger to take effect in Q2 2014. TeleGeography’s CommsUpdate reported yesterday that the deal had been given the green light by anti-trust watchdog the Superintendencia Industria y Comercio (SIC) with the caveat that the combined entity must return 50MHz of spectrum to the state, as the merged body would have rights to 135MHz of frequencies, exceeding the 85MHz cap.
In related news, Une-EPM has rolled out its 4G Long Term Evolution (LTE) network to Villavicencio, the capital of the Meta department. TeleSemana writes that the telco spent USD650,000 to deploy 13 base stations, covering 80% of the city, and raising the number of cities within the LTE footprint to 44.