Danisa Astudillo, senator for Tarapacá, filed an oficio (a formal information request) with the Subsecretaría de Telecomunicaciones (Subtel, Chile's telecommunications undersecretariat) on Friday, according to CNN Chile. She asked for background on the decision to extend, until the week of October 20, the deadline for verifying whether WOM met the second milestone of its 5G rollout.
Subtel reports to the Ministerio de Transportes y Telecomunicaciones (Ministry of Transport and Telecommunications) and oversees companies in the sector. The senator demanded a written reply before Wednesday, October 21. On that day, Undersecretary Romina Garrido is scheduled to appear before the Transport and Telecommunications Committee of the Senado (Chile's Senate).
The milestone is part of an agreement WOM signed in 2025 with the Consejo de Defensa del Estado (CDE), the body that represents the Treasury's interests in court. That agreement gave the company a new schedule because it missed the original deadline, set for October 2023.
Under the signed commitments, the operator had to have 90% of the technical project certified by September 30, 2026. The remaining 10% must be installed before December 31.
For Astudillo, an extra deadline "must be properly justified", to safeguard equal treatment and the seriousness of commitments made to the State. She also pointed to public trust in the oversight capacity of institutions.
The oficio focuses on Tarapacá. There, the State designated six priority localities lacking connectivity: Calatambo (Camiña), Parajaya (Colchane), Cultane and Corsa (Huara), Altos de Playa Blanca (Iquique) and Quipisca (Pozo Almonte). All of them were supposed to have working signal no later than April 7, 2023.
According to Subtel's own project progress report for the third quarter of 2025, none of the six localities had approved works or started service. For these isolated villages in the altiplano and the interior, the delay means more than three years without the promised coverage.
The senator asks which legal, regulatory or contractual provision allowed Subtel to extend the verification beyond September 30, and through which administrative act. She also wants to know why requests for approval of works that WOM reportedly submitted in the last days of the month were processed, even though the deadline expired on September 22.
She also asked for the exact number of base stations actually approved and authorized as of September 30, and details of the company's "force majeure" claims. This is key because the agreement states that deadlines are considered met once Subtel approves the works.
Finally, Astudillo questioned the lack of transparency. Data such as speed and weighted progress, requested under the Ley de Transparencia (Chile's Transparency Law), were denied because they were in "validation" status. The CNN Chile report does not include Subtel's or WOM's response. The official reply is expected before the October 21 session.
