Claro pumps $370M into network upgrades, expansion
Claro President Enrique Ortiz de Montellano.
Telecommunications carrier Claro is investing $370 million to modernize its network and expand its fiber optic infrastructure to deliver higher speeds to fixed and mobile customers, company President Enrique Ortiz de Montellano announced Wednesday.
The carrier will increase capacity to offer speeds of 100 Mbps to wireless and 1,000 megas to fixed clients, he said.
“Today we are pleased to announce our aggressive infrastructure investment plan. This plan, which includes the use of our newly acquired AWS3 frequency, will enable Claro customers to enjoy speeds on mobile devices of up to 100 Mbps,” he said.
“In addition, we are delivering fiber optic to the consumer with more than 280,000 homes passed with fiber optic to the home and curb, which allows for speeds of up to 1,000 megas,” he said.
“It’s very true that digital speed accelerates the economy, therefore, we continue to invest in connecting Puerto Rico to a better future,” the executive added.
The proposed evolution of Claro’s mobile network combines the use of new spectrum and “carrier aggregation” technology that joins all available frequencies to provide faster navigation — up to 4 times faster — representing an increase of up to 230 percent coverage and more capacity.
It also includes the use of small cells and radio dots, among others, to offer coverage to areas of high network use. An example of that is the Puerto Rico Coliseum, which now has a unique system consisting of multibeams antennas with carrier aggregation that allows the distribution of capacity by areas, greatly improving the user experience. Claro executives said.
The network upgrade is expected to be completed during 2017.
