Argentina coverage

What the Argentina numbers mean

Two numbers matter and only one of them is the one every seller quotes. The typical speed, 33 Mbps, tells you what a good moment looks like.

The tenth percentile, 8 Mbps, is the one that matters. It is the speed in the worst tenth of the day, when the cell above the station is full and everybody around you is on it too. A country with a high median and a low floor is a country that works beautifully right up until the moment you actually need it.

If the trip depends on video calls or tethering, plan around the busy figure rather than the typical one.

What happens in Argentina when the network is busy

Congestion is not a fault, it is a Tuesday evening. The question is what your eSIM can do about it, and for most travel eSIMs the answer is nothing: one wholesale agreement per country, one network, and no way out except buying a second eSIM from somebody else while standing in the street.

Here, Orbislo traffic runs over Personal and Claro. When the network you are on degrades we move you to another one, mid trip, without you asking, and tell you afterwards rather than interrupting you at the time.

Mobile operators in Argentina

• Claro: Claro, owned by América Movil, bought the first 5G lot in October 2023, 100 MHz at 3300 to 3400 MHz, for US$350,052,000. The authorisation runs for 20 years.
• Personal: Telecom Argentina, which runs Personal, bought 100 MHz at 3400 to 3500 MHz in the October 2023 5G auction for US$350,026,000.
• Movistar: Telefónica, then owner of Movistar, took the smallest 5G lot in October 2023, 50 MHz at 3550 to 3600 MHz, for US$175,013,000.
• Personal and Movistar: Before Telecom Argentina bought Telefónica's Argentine business, the competition authority measured mobile shares at 41.8 percent for Claro, 33.8 percent for Personal and 24.4 percent for Movistar. Combined, Personal and Movistar would hold 58 percent.
• Personal and Movistar: In June 2026 the competition tribunal made the merger conditional on Telecom handing 6 million active mobile customers, 4 million in greater Buenos Aires and 2 million elsewhere, plus the spectrum to serve them, to an independent buyer, so that three national mobile competitors remain.
• Personal: Personal had about 19.9 million mobile customers at the end of 2025, 60 percent prepaid. Its 4G reached 97 percent of the urban population in more than 2,245 towns and cities, and about 85 percent of its calls were carried over VoLTE.
• Movistar: At the end of 2025, Movistar's 4G covered 99.4 percent of the urban population across 2,218 towns and cities and all of the population in the major cities. About 53 percent of its calls used VoLTE, and it had 715 5G sites.
• Personal: Personal provides mobile service on 700 MHz, 1900 MHz and AWS (1700 and 2100 MHz) nationwide, 850 MHz in the north and greater Buenos Aires, and 900 and 2600 MHz in selected towns, with 3500 MHz nationwide for 5G. A phone lacking these bands will see weaker coverage.
• New entrant: The buyer of the 6 million customers that Telecom must divest gets access to Telecom's network while it builds its own: shared antennas and radio equipment, national and international roaming, and co-location at Telecom sites, for at least three years.

Older networks in Argentina

• Throughout 2025 Personal kept converting its 2G and 3G networks to 4G and LTE, so the older networks are shrinking on one of the country's main carriers. A phone with 4G and VoLTE support is the safe choice there.

5G in Argentina

• Argentina auctioned 250 MHz of 5G spectrum between 3300 and 3600 MHz on 24 October 2023 and raised US$875,091,000. Winners must deploy in five stages over up to 84 months in towns of more than 30,000 people.
• In April 2025 the regulator cut the maximum 5G spectrum any one licensee and its related companies may hold in each service area from 200 MHz to 150 MHz.
• Personal added 819 5G sites during 2025, reaching 1,084 by the end of the year, and 3.5 million of its customers had 5G capable phones.
• 5G licence holders must also offer a plan for low-income users once more than half of end users of the service have handsets able to use it.