The Colombian Communications Regulatory Commission (CRC) demanded operators to pen interconnection agreements with new entrant Partners Telecoms Colombia, ahead of the debutant’s launch of its WOM brand in Colombia.
TeleGeography’s CommsUpdate reported, according to local news outlet Portafolio.com, the regulator made this ruling on December 28, with a CRC spokesperson stating: “The decisions contained in the issued resolutions will be the basis for Partners Telecom Colombia to materialise access, use and interconnection relationships with Comcel and Tigo-Une, for which the parties must comply with the defined schedule.’
In December 2019 Partners acquired frequencies in the 700MHz and 2,500MHz band in Colombia’s spectrum auction in December 2019, where the company also retracted a bid after accidentally offering to pay ten times more than the going rate for a licence.
Partners is backed by London-based investment company Novator Partners which pledged in November to invest over $1 billion into infrastructure projects over the next five year, after launching the WOM brand in the country.
The company began groundwork for WOM Colombia’s launch by acquiring a majority stake in Avantel for an undisclosed fee. The WOM brand was also launched in Chile, Novator was reportedly in the running to acquire Telefonica’s unit in Chile.
