Tell us a little about yourself. What does your job at Telefónica involve?
I am Head of Network Planning and Engineering at Telefónica Mexico, with over 20 years’ experience in telecommunications. Throughout my career, I have led strategic projects in the country such as the migration of the network under the RAN Sharing model with AT&T, the integration of 5G MOCN in major cities, and the optimisation of the 4G network, which has been the basis of our connectivity and positioned us as the fastest at the time.
I also had the opportunity to play a regional role at Telefónica Hispam, where I coordinated network modernisation in eight countries, managing the investment plan and end-to-end technological evolution.
My responsibility is to anticipate connectivity needs in Mexico and ensure that the network is ready, reliable, and efficient, incorporating technologies such as 4G, 5G, virtualisation, and cloud, and adopting disruptive planning and investment models that allow us to execute projects in a more agile and innovative way.
How would you define the role of a network planning and engineering manager?
It’s like being the architect of connectivity. It’s not just about deploying infrastructure, but about aligning every investment decision with the user experience. In the B2C segment, this means that a family can watch a film via streaming without interruptions, a student can access their online classes without interruptions, or a remote worker can maintain stable video calls.
To achieve this, it is necessary to promote new disruptive forms of operation and management: leveraging automation, infrastructure sharing, and flexible schemes that enable the transformation of strategy into concrete and successful projects.
How can the quality and efficiency of the service that customers receive be guaranteed?
Through a global network strategy that combines user demand analysis with continuous performance evaluation. We monitor traffic, coverage and service quality in real time, and use this information to make decisions about where to strengthen and which technologies to prioritise.
Our coverage levers are a very important factor. A clear example is RAN Sharing, which simply means sharing part of the network infrastructure with another operator to reach more places faster and more efficiently. We also have roaming agreements, which ensure that customers have service even in areas where we do not have our own network.
The 4G network continues to be the basis of our connectivity, and we are evolving towards 5G, which will allow us to expand capacity and offer more advanced experiences. This comprehensive vision ensures that the network is stable, efficient and prepared for future challenges.
What does it mean to oversee network planning and sizing in a country like Mexico?
Overseeing the network as a whole means ensuring that all elements—from access and transport to service platforms—are sized to meet current and future demand. Mexico presents unique challenges: metropolitan areas with a very high concentration of users and rural regions where the priority is to expand coverage.
This requires strategic decisions on where to invest in capacity, how to ensure backbone resilience, and what solutions to implement so that the network performs well in all environments. Ultimately, it is about building a balanced, robust and sustainable network that supports our customers’ digital lives.
What role does innovation play in implementing solutions to drive connectivity?
Innovation is what allows us to stay one step ahead of customer needs. We adopt approaches such as virtualisation and the cloud, which offer us flexibility and reduce time to market, allowing new capabilities to reach users sooner.
Innovation is also reflected in the implementation of business and regulatory platforms, which make it possible to offer digital services with security, compliance and quality. In this sense, innovating means translating technology into concrete benefits: faster connections, more reliable services and digital experiences that bring real value to people’s daily lives.
What influence do new technologies have on this work?
New technologies are the driving force behind network transformation. Virtualisation and the cloud allow us to evolve faster and launch services in weeks rather than months. 5G opens the door to new possibilities for advanced connectivity, while 4G remains the backbone of our services today.
For customers, this means that every technological improvement translates into something tangible: from smoother mobile browsing to a company being able to enable digital solutions for its customers more quickly and securely.
