According to La Tercera, the Subsecretaría de Telecomunicaciones (Subtel) announced that Metro de Santiago has completed 100% combined 4G and 5G mobile coverage across its seven lines, 143 stations and roughly 150 kilometers of network. The announcement was made at Universidad de Chile station.
Subtel said the milestone allows high-speed connectivity both on platforms and inside the tunnels. Citing data from the international metropolitan railway association CoMET, Subtel described the Santiago system as the first network in Latin America with fully continuous high-speed coverage underground.
Operator and coverage
According to the same source, Entel was the first mobile operator to complete 5G coverage across the entire Metro de Santiago. Metro's general manager, Felipe Bravo, said the technology is available throughout the whole network.
Technical performance
Subtel reported that peak speeds reach 400 Mbps, with latencies below 20 milliseconds. The weekly data volume transferred on the network is 524,449 GB, which is more than 524 terabytes. According to Subtel, 54.2% of data traffic already runs over fifth-generation networks.
During the peak hour, at 18:00, Subtel reported up to 9,657 GB transferred in a single hour. The busiest stations for data traffic were Tobalaba (L1/L4) with 15,082 GB, Los Leones (L1/L6) with 13,513 GB, and Baquedano (L1/L5) with 13,509 GB.
How passengers use the network
Subtel also released data on usage. Social networks account for 50.7% of total traffic, with Instagram the most used at 28.1%, followed by TikTok at 14.5% and Facebook at 8.1%. Web browsing made up 7.6%, and streaming included YouTube at 5.9% and Spotify at 5.7%.
Official statements
Minister Louis de Grange said the milestone places Metro de Santiago among the most connected underground networks in Latin America. Deputy minister Romina Garrido said the government aims to have a fully 5G Metro across all operators by 2030. Entel's CEO, Antonio Büchi, described the milestone as a source of pride for the company.