Colombia Móvil

Founding and early operations

Colombia Móvil was established in January 2003 after being awarded its national Personal Communications Service (PCS) license. The operator began as a joint venture between the fixed-line operator ETB (50%) and the public services and telecommunications group Empresas Públicas de Medellín (50%).

Colombia Móvil, operating under the OLA brand, commenced operations in late 2003. Its shareholders secured the license through a public auction, paying US$56 million to become the country's first PCS operator. Empresas Públicas de Medellín (EPM) and ETB each owned 50% of OLA's shares. The awarding of this license had been delayed since 1997 due to various lawsuits filed by the incumbent cellular operators, Comcel and Celumóvil. These companies had maintained a duopoly since 1994, charging exorbitant rates to users. This situation caused significant technological stagnation for the country compared to the rest of the world and even within the region, as countries like Chile had been granted similar licenses since 1997.

In 2004, OLA successfully launched its "Pioneros" plan, which promoted calls between the company's phones at $30 per minute. However, the network and service infrastructure were only designed to handle half the volume of subscribers.

Transition to Tigo

As of December 1, 2006, OLA remained the third-largest mobile phone operator in Colombia, with over 2.7 million subscribers. Despite being surpassed by its cellular competitors, Comcel and Movistar, OLA gained ground against the second-largest operator (Movistar) by selling 10,985 more lines by the end of that third quarter. On December 1, OLA officially changed its name to Tigo following the acquisition of 50% plus one share by Millicom (via Millicom Colombia S.A.). This rebranding aimed to expand coverage and services, grow its customer base, and gain market share from other operators through aggressive advertising campaigns.

On November 11, 2013, ETB decided to sell its stake in Tigo to UNE, an EPM subsidiary, ahead of the merger between UNE and Tigo. In the same year, Alejandro Santodomingo joined the Board of Directors.

Merger with UNE

On August 16, 2014, the merger deeds between Tigo and UNE were signed, concluding a process that had been two years in the making. This merger allowed for the integration of UNE's fixed services with Tigo's mobile telephony, transforming the combined company into the second-largest operator in Colombia. Through this process, UNE absorbed Tigo (Colombia Móvil S.A.), and Millicom International (Tigo's owner) capitalized UNE. EPM obtained the majority stake in the newly formed company, TigoUne (50.01%). Furthermore, UNE, as the absorbing entity, became the parent company, directly controlling Edatel S.A., Empresa de Telecomunicaciones de Pereira S.A., Cinco Telecom Corporation (domiciled in Florida), Orbitel Comunicaciones Latinoamericana, and Orbitel Servicios Internacionales S.A. The company's headquarters are located in Medellín.

As of October 2015, both brands were maintained separately: Tigo for mobile services and TigoUNE for fixed services. For the corporate sector, the company had already begun to offer an integrated portfolio.

Since 2019, TigoUNE shortened its brand to Tigo for both mobile and fixed services.

Technology

Colombia Móvil supports its operations on several wireless technologies:

GSM: Tigo uses GSM and GPRS technology on the 1900 MHz band nationwide to offer traditional mobile voice services.

EDGE: This technology, available in approximately half of the areas with Tigo coverage, allows users to browse the internet at a speed of around 250 Kbps.

UMTS and HSDPA: These technologies, available in approximately 400 Colombian towns and cities, allow the company to offer internet access of up to 5 Mbps to its users via 3G (UMTS) and 3.5G (HSDPA) technologies.