Empresa Nacional de Telecomunicaciones S.A. (

doing business as A trade name, trading name, or business name is a pseudonym used by companies that do not operate under their registered company name. The term for this type of alternative name is fictitious business name. Registering the fictitious name with ...

Entel-Chile S.A.) is the largest

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

telecommunications Telecommunication, often used in its plural form or abbreviated as telecom, is the transmission of information over a distance using electronic means, typically through cables, radio waves, or other communication technologies. These means of ...

company. The company is known for the high Torre Entel (Entel Tower) that rises above central

Santiago Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile (), is the capital and largest city of Chile and one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is located in the country's central valley and is the center of the Santiago Metropolitan Regi ...

and constitutes one of the city's landmarks. As of December 2013 Entel PCS had 38.8% of the Chilean mobile market. It was the first American operator to launch a

GSM The Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) is a family of standards to describe the protocols for second-generation (2G) digital cellular networks, as used by mobile devices such as mobile phones and Mobile broadband modem, mobile broadba ...

mobile network in 1997. In 2000, the Entel PCS network offered support for

GPRS General Packet Radio Service (GPRS), also called 2.5G, is a mobile data standard on the 2G cellular communication network's Global System for Mobile Communications, global system for mobile communications (GSM). Networks and mobile devices wit ...

and in 2003 it added

EDGE Edge or EDGE may refer to: Technology Computing * Edge computing, a network load-balancing system * Edge device, an entry point to a computer network * Adobe Edge, a graphical development application * Microsoft Edge, a web browser developed by ...

support.

History

Entel was started in 1964 by the Chilean government at the time to improve long distance, improve

quality within the country and build a

network Network, networking and networked may refer to: Science and technology * Network theory, the study of graphs as a representation of relations between discrete objects * Network science, an academic field that studies complex networks Mathematics ...

trunk to replace the old infrastructure badly damaged by an

earthquake An earthquakealso called a quake, tremor, or tembloris the shaking of the Earth's surface resulting from a sudden release of energy in the lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, from those so weak they ...

. Entel installed

microwave Microwave is a form of electromagnetic radiation with wavelengths shorter than other radio waves but longer than infrared waves. Its wavelength ranges from about one meter to one millimeter, corresponding to frequency, frequencies between 300&n ...

networks in almost the entire national territory and built in 1968 a satellite station in Longovilo south west of Santiago, a

Latin America Latin America is the cultural region of the Americas where Romance languages are predominantly spoken, primarily Spanish language, Spanish and Portuguese language, Portuguese. Latin America is defined according to cultural identity, not geogr ...

n first. Entel's activities initially were data transmission and communications service, long distance telecommunications according to the wishes of

CORFO The Production Development Corporation (CORFO, from ) is a Chilean governmental organization that was founded in 1939 by President Pedro Aguirre Cerda to promote economic growth in Chile. Originally, CORFO was responsible for the creation of ...

. The company built the National Center for Telecommunications, popularly known as Torre Entel in Santiago, which functions as the central node. After its

privatization Privatization (rendered privatisation in British English) can mean several different things, most commonly referring to moving something from the public sector into the private sector. It is also sometimes used as a synonym for deregulation w ...

it was licensed to operate domestic services:

cell phone A mobile phone or cell phone is a portable telephone that allows users to make and receive calls over a radio frequency link while moving within a designated telephone service area, unlike fixed-location phones ( landline phones). This radio ...

, Entel PCS and land line, known as Entel Phone. It also offered

Internet The Internet (or internet) is the Global network, global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a internetworking, network of networks ...

connectivity. Entel's privatization began in 1986 and was finalized in 1992. The following year, through a series of transactions, Group Chilquinta acquired the 19.99% ownership of the company. In June 1996, the Board of Directors authorized an increase in capital that allowed the entry of

Telecom Italia TIM S.p.A. (formerly Telecom Italia S.p.A.) is an Italian telecommunications company with headquarters in Rome, Milan, and Naples (with the Telecom Italia Tower), which provides fixed, public and mobile telephony, and DSL data services. It is ...

, which acquired another 19.99%, sharing control with the Group Chilquinta. During the first half of 1999, the company increased its capital by $215 million. This contribution came from Quiñenco group. In March 2001,

bought shares of Chilquinta and Matte group, reaching a 54.76% stake. Entel's stock is a big part of the Chilean stock market. Shares were held by pension funds, which at the end of 2004 comprised 25.6% of the shares of the company. Additionally, international funds and individuals acquired shares. In 2005, Chilean group Almendral S.A. gained control of Entel Group through its Altel Inversiones subsidiary, holding 54.76 percent of the company. In 2006 Entel sold its entire share in Americatel Central America SA and their direct and indirect subsidiaries, BVI Holding Isela Inc. under contract Stock Purchase Agreement ("SPA"). In April 2013 Entel started the acquisition process of Nextel del Perú operations valued on US$400 million. The process ended on the second semester of 2013, and was subsequently renamed Entel Perú. On 22 October 2022, Entel announced that the company will sell its fiber optic assets to ON*NET Fibra for US$358 million. As part of the deal, Entel would continue to offer internet services for residences on ON*NET's fiber optic network.

Structure

Entel is a corporation with several subsidiaries: * Entel Call Center * Entel Data Center * Entel Internet * Entel Phone * Entel TV HD

References

External links

{{IPSA companies Telecommunications companies of Chile Telecommunications companies established in 1964 Chilean companies established in 1964 Chilean brands Companies listed on the Santiago Stock Exchange Companies in the Índice de Precio Selectivo de Acciones