Most countries in South America already have some type of 5G network deployed and have launched services, while the majority in Central America and the Caribbean, as well as Mexico, are still in the deployment, evaluation and testing phases, or there is no available information. Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, Peru and Suriname appear in a map of 5G operator investments as countries where 5G is deployed in networks and with services launched. Uruguay has the status of 5G deployed, but under a soft launch, while Paraguay, Bolivia, Chile and Ecuador appear in the stage of “deploying.” Meanwhile, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic and Mexico are in the stage of evaluating/testing/trialing 5G, according to GSA, while Honduras is “deploying” and Puerto Rico has already deployed and launched services. Most of these activations likely involve so-called 5G DSS (dynamic spectrum sharing), technology that uses 3GPP-compliant 5G mobile services, but over existing spectrum (such as for 4G, for example).
Latin America as having 15 commercial 5G networks, including 5G DSS (over existing LTE infrastructure) and “pure” 5G (using specific spectrum), part of a total of 178 worldwide. A total of 176 operators in 72 countries/territories had launched one or more 3GPP-compliant 5G services. Some 63 operators in 34 countries/territories had launched 3GPP-compliant 5G fixed-wireless access (FWA) or home broadband services. 13 operators had launched commercial public 5G SA (standalone, pure 5G) networks, 45 others were planning/deploying 5G SA for public networks and 23 operators were involved in tests/trials. Huawei, Ericsson and Nokia together have 95% of the telecoms vendor market in Latin America. Nokia lists public commercial 5G contracts (DSS included) with five telcos in Latin America and the Caribbean: Uruguay’s Antel, Aruba’s Setar, Ecuador’s CNT, Telefónica Chile and Telecom Argentina. Ericsson’s latest update included 144 commercial 5G agreements, 82 publicly announced contracts and 94 live 5G networks globally.