GTD to sell Starlink services in Chile, Peru and Colombia

Chilean telco GTD announced that it will be an authorized distributor of SpaceX's Starlink satellite internet service in Chile, Peru and Colombia.

The agreement, focused on solutions for the business sector, will make it possible to offer backup connectivity, guarantee operational continuity and connect remote or rural areas out of the range of GTD's fiber optic network.

The business solution will include high-speed, low-latency connectivity with network priority, plus VPN, firewalls and even SD-WAN. Technical support services will also be provided, from installation to post-sale support and service in the field.

GTD has its own fiber optic network covering 87,500km, connectivity rings and high-capillarity access networks that allow it to provide service to more than 315,000 customers in urban and rural areas. In Chile, it also has the Prat submarine fiber optic cable, which links Arica and Puerto Montt.

Starlink, meanwhile, offers satellite internet services with a constellation of low-orbit satellites, which provide high-speed, low-latency internet services.

According to Ookla figures, Starlink Chile was the fastest satellite internet provider in South America during the first quarter of 2023 with an average download speed of 84.6Mbps, compared with 77.0Mbps in Peru and 73.5Mbps in Colombia.

In addition to the agreement with GTD, Starlink has an agreement with Honduran state-owned firm Hondutel to sell its satellite services in rural areas of the Central American country.

CONTRACTS WITH COMPANIES

Several companies are testing or using Starlink for their operations In Latin America.

In Chile, the fuel distributor Copec announced a contract in January to connect a total of 18 service stations on the Austral highway in the south of the country with satellite connectivity provided by SpaceX.

In Brazil, banks Bradesco and Itaú already use Starlink's satellite solution for their operations.

Itaú is testing the technology to take internet to remote areas, while Bradesco is testing the service at a branch in the interior of Rio de Janeiro state. The results have been "very satisfactory" and Bradesco is considering expanding the service to other units in remote areas, such as the Fernando de Noronha archipelago off Brazil's northeast coast.

Until now, Bradesco has relied on medium or geostationary orbit satellites for its service in Fernando de Noronha.

Companies seek to have a set of technologies, such as mobile services, fiber or geostationary and low-orbit satellites, to guarantee service continuity in the event of service outages, such as the one that happened to Starlink in 2022.

"For a [final] consumer it is not important, but for a company the service is ultra-critical. You can't have a failure. So, there we see the potential of having a backup with GEO [geostationary satellites]," Gabriel Paiewonsky, OneWeb's regional director for operators, government and companies, recently explained to BNamericas.

OneWeb is another low-orbit satellite company that plans to start providing services at the end of 2023.

Subscribe to the leading business intelligence platform in Latin America with different tools for Providers, Contractors, Operators, Government, Legal, Financial and Insurance industries.

The government seeks to increase the coverage of telecommunications networks to 85% of the country in four years.

In addition, Peru fines Telefónica, Mexico's 5G advisory body provides recommendations, Vrio joins Citel, and more.

Subscribe to Latin America's most trusted business intelligence platform.

Get critical information about thousands of ICT projects in Latin America: what stages they're in, capex, related companies, contacts and more. Go ">Request Demo

Get critical information about thousands of ICT companies in Latin America: their projects, contacts, shareholders, related news and more. Go ">Request Demo

Subscribe to BNamericas to find news reports, information on projects and contact information relating to thousands of companies that drive business in Latin America.

0 viewing opportunities left

Request a demo and access exclusive content