Final Project Presentation, GSMA Capacity Building the Path to 5G in Ecuador. Presented by: Miguel Aguilar

1. THE PATH TO 5G
IN ECUADOR
5G the Path to the Next Generation
Presented By: Miguel Aguilar
Latitude 0°

2. SPECTRUM MANAGEMENT
Introduction
• In Ecuador, there are 3 mobile operators
1. CONECEL S.A (Claro Ecuador)
2. OTECEL S.A. (Movistar Ecuador)
3. CNT EP
• Actually, Ecuador has 94% 2G+3G coverage. Only 50% of the country is covered by 4G
• Currently, the 700 MHz band (B28) has 60 MHz unused (30 Mhz uplink + 30 MHz downlink).
• The 2.5 GHz band is unused.
• The 3.5 GHz Band is unused for mobile communications, but it is being cleared.
• Possible dates for Spectrum assignment:
i. 700MHz band and 2.5 GHz band by second semester 2020.
ii. 3.5 GHZ band by 2021
iii. Upper bands by 2023 (over 6 GHz).

3. Coverage Study from Dec.2018.
Population statistics: INEC 2010 (projected to 2018)
SMA Nacional 4G
Provincias con 4G
Provincias sin 4G
50.72%
Current
Situation
It is mandatory to cover 197 parishes, in order to
increase the 4G population coverage
Increase 30.07% of total
coverage nationwide
5´083.336 additional population
covered
Population
Coverage
Ecuador is divided into 24 provinces,
221 cantons, and 1024 parishes.
GOAL
4G DEPLOYMENT PROJECT

4. 4G DEPLOYMENT PROJECT
The
Path to
5G:
2022
4G Coverage
Increase 4G coverage to 81% by
the end of 2021
Bands under 1 GHz
700 MHz band will be allocated: Movistar
and Claro (30 GHz each)
Bands between 1 – 6 GHZ
A beauty contest might be used to allocate
2.5 and 3.5 GHZ bands
Bands over 6 GHZ
Will be allocated during 2021 –
2023 (24 - 25 GHz band)
Spectrum Assignment
The method that will be used to allocate spectrum is
still in analysis (Beauty Contest)
Contract time
Private companies will have the right to operate for
15 years, after that the contract terms will be
renewed
Cost of the Spectrum
The Government is still deciding if the total cost of
the spectrum will be paid by the mobile phone
companies, or part of the costs will be invested
directly in coverage.
5G in Ecuador
With a Healthy 4G network, 5G will be a reality in
Ecuador by 2021-2022

5. MOBILE MARKET STATUS
Marketshare Mobile Phone Subscribers
Source: ARCOTEL / May 2019
Claro
52.3%
Movist…
CNT…
2G + 3G,
50.4%
4G,…

6. MOBILE MARKET STATUS
Source: ARCOTEL / May 2019
• In Ecuador, only 50.72% of the population has 4G coverage
• 49.6% of the total subscribers have an active 4G subscription
• 94% of the country has 2G + 3G population coverage,
but only 50.4% of the subscribers have a 2G + 3G
subscription.
• The biggest problem now is how to reach rural
areas with low or any coverage.
• In order to solve those problems, the Ministry
of Ecuador is working on new telecommu-
nication policies, designed to reach those
areas through social projects.

7. SPECTRUM MANAGEMENT
Spectrum Availability
• In Ecuador, There are 1020 MHz available
for allocation. 461.45 MHz have already
been assigned, to telecommunications
operators.
• Only 45.2% of the available spectrum has
been assigned, while 54.8% of the
Spectrum is still unused.
• ITU recommends to assign at least
1280MHz. Countries in Latin America are
known because they don’t assign enough
spectrum, as they should.
Band (MHz)
Total
Spectrum in
the band
(MHz)
Used
Spectrum
(MHz)
Spectrum
Avaliable
(MHz)
450 - 470 20 9.95 10.05
700 90 30 60
850 50 50 0
900 40 0 40
1500 90 0 90
1900 120 120 0
1700/2100 120 80 40
2500 FDD 140 0 140
2500 TDD 50 0 50
3300 - 3400 100 0 100
3400 - 3600 200 171.5 28.5
Total 1020 461.45 558.55
Marketshare (%) 100% 45.2% 54.8%

8. SPECTRUM MANAGEMENT
Problem Description
• In order to move to 5G there must by a good coverage for 4G networks.
• Ecuador is working in social plans and projects, focused on extending telecommunications
infrastructure to hard to reach areas, or it is financially inconvenient.
• It seems to be a problem to have only 50% of 4G coverage (Dec.2018), when a 4G healthy
network is the basis to start a 5G network deployment.
• In Ecuador, de uncovered areas are, most of the time, rural areas, and highways in areas with
very low population density.
• To extend mobile networks coverage

9. SPECTRUM MANAGEMENT
Solutions
• Among the plans and projects that the Government of Ecuador is developing are:
• Universal Service Plan, that defines two main telecommunication services that must be
extended countrywide: optical networks for internet access, and mobile networks
(coverage).
• Ecuador is a country that wants to improve its economy, through the telecommunications
growth. In that way, the Ministry of Telecommunications created the Universal Service Plan.
• In order to improve the mobile communications market, Ecuador has to assign new
spectrum in new bands: 700 MHz, 2.5 MHz, and 3.5 MHz.

10. SPECTRUM MANAGEMENT
Analysis of the proposed solutions
• Assignment of the spectrum bands.
• 700 MHz and 2.5 GHz at the end of the second quarter of 2020.
• 3.5 MHz should be assigned by the end of 2020 or the first semester of 2021.
• By 2023, other mmwave bands should be assigned (25 MHz for example).
• The mechanism that will be used to assign new spectrum should have to be defined by
ARCOTEL (Regulation and Control of Telecommunications Agency.).
• It is known that a “beauty contest” might be a solution, if the country assigns spectrum at a
very low prize, for 15 years, in one hand, and in the other hand, stablished projects
designed to increase coverage and improve quality of the 4G networks and future 5G
networks.
• Low cost Spectrum will help the mobile phone companies to have more money to invest in
network growth.
• The taxes that are applied to user terminals might be reduced, in that way, users will
upgrade the users terminals more easily, and will adopt 5G technology more easily.

11. SPECTRUM MANAGEMENT
Sources:
• Frequencies National Plan
• http://www.arcotel.gob.ec/consulta-plan-nacional-de-frecuencias/
• Telecommunication statistics:
• http://www.arcotel.gob.ec/servicio-movil-avanzado-sma_3/
• Public Policy.
• https://www.telecomunicaciones.gob.ec/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Pol%C3%ADticas-
P%C3%BAblicas-Indice-10.11.2017.pdf
• Universal Service Plan.
• https://www.telecomunicaciones.gob.ec/mintel-socializo-plan-servicio-universal-2018-
2021/

12. Thank You