Michel Hernández Tafoya, president of Observatel, points out that the main challenge now facing the company chaired by Salvador Álvarez is to retain the clients and users who have managed to pay for their network.
“Now (Altán) already has more users, but it will be essential to see, a year from now, how many of those 6 million have remained connected to that network. This will depend on whether Altán’s network works properly and whether there are no (reliability) problems in the services that its clients offer to users”, he comments.
Altán Redes is facing a commercial bankruptcy process and is in the debt recognition stage with each of its more than 70 creditors, of which Promtel, Huawei, Nokia and American Tower seek to be recognized as “priority” to receive their payments soon. of debt.
In addition, the company expects an injection of capital through a second loan that it will obtain this time from the national bank and that is around 100 million dollars. The first credit obtained by Altán was received on August 31, 2021 and amounted to 50 million dollars.
Despite the fact that the company is operating in the red, Salvador Álvarez, CEO of Altán Redes, said in a statement that the addition of new users to the network is due to “the result of the aggressive business plan that we began to promote at the end of 2019, including the launch of disruptive offers from the hand of our MVNOs (virtual mobile operators) with plans up to four times cheaper than the competition”.
He added that the participation of MVNOs, such as Izzi Móvil, Megamóvil, Redi from Coppel and Bait from Walmart, within the total of clients who pay to use their network increased from 15% in 2019 to 67% at the end of last year. This is reflected in the type of services most contracted by end users.
Of the 6 million served by Altán indirectly -through other companies that use its infrastructure-, 81% correspond to the segment of mobile Internet and 19% to home internet.
5G, a lifesaver?
The migration of the 5G network could give Altán Redes an additional attraction to attract new clients. On its website, it states that the 4.5G technology with which it operates allows it to migrate to 5G faster.
Jorge Fernando Borjón, former commissioner of the Federal Institute of Telecommunications, affirms that the Red Compartida was designed to transition to 5G, but the demand for services of this new network will depend on the appetite in the market and how the fifth generation in networks evolves. AT&T and Telcel. “It’s a long-term venture, so fifth-generation networking might not help you improve your finances at the moment,” he says.
The Observatel manager points out that because 5G technology is not yet as attractive to customers as it is to users, the migration to this new technology should not be a priority for Red Compartida, since its adoption requires large investments and ensure financial viability.
“Altán has an advantage because it is probably not relevant for its potential clients to have 5G, perhaps later on no operator will want to be out of 5G, but for now probably for its niche clients it may be better to be with 4.5G”, he adds. Hernandez Tafoya.