Chile's Subtel orders full guarantee payment from telecom firm WOM over fiber optic failures

Chile's Subsecretaría de Telecomunicaciones (Subtel) has ordered the telecom operator WOM S.A. to pay the entire amount of guarantees pledged for the National Fiber Optic (Fibra Óptica Nacional) project. The regulator cited serious, persistent breaches across five macro‑zones—Arica and Parinacota, Norte, Centro Norte, Centro, and Centro Sur—including service availability well below the contractual 98% minimum, incorrect calculation methodology, poor incident management, and incomplete reporting.

The project, subsidised with more than CLP 80 billion (about US$86 million), aims to connect over 800,000 people. WOM received a state subsidy exceeding CLP 52 billion (about US$55 million) for the five zones. Subtel determined that the actual availability rates ranged from 72.94% to 95.76%, all under the required threshold. Consequently, the authority imposed a guarantee payment of UF 316,410.15 to recover the public funds allocated to the underperforming infrastructure.