Liliana Barriga, Head of Regulatory Policy and Studies at the Undersecretariat of Telecommunications (Subtel) of Chile, explained that the authorities' and regulator’s view on the expansion of D2D is that it should be a complementary service to terrestrial mobile networks, not a substitute, as is the case in the United States.

“We always consider D2D to be a complementary service. In the U.S., it is a substitute. The difference lies in the fact that Chile does not have a secondary spectrum market, so the authorization is granted to the mobile network operator. The U.S. Federal Communications Commission requests authorization from the satellite operator,” she said.

She explained that the FCC requires a spectrum lease agreement with the satellite operator, which is not the case in Chile. The geography of the United States makes D2D service more relevant there, while in Chile it is considered for emergency situations, with special emphasis on avoiding interference with established services.

Barriga noted that the operator Entel received an experimental license and that the tests have not generated interference. In parallel, the regulator is working on modifying the general spectrum usage plan to make room for bands allocated to D2D within the attribution framework.

“The final decree is quite advanced. By the end of this semester or the beginning of the next, we will have the full regulatory framework enacted,” she announced.

Regarding the fixed wireless broadband market, she observed that it has experienced exponential growth since the pandemic, going from 9,000 connections to more than 100,000, of which 90% are held by Starlink. In this regard, she mentioned that Subtel is working on a demand-side subsidy to support users in paying for fixed satellite internet.