The transaction, due to complete in Q2 of 2022, includes three data centres in Santiago, Chile and one further data centre in Lima, Peru once the definitive agreement has been finalised.
"Latin America holds enormous potential, and our commitment to the region has exponentially grown since we entered back in 2011," said Charles Meyers (pictured), president and CEO, Equinix.
"Chilean, Peruvian and multinational companies are thirsting for the digital infrastructure required to thrive in today's economy; with today's expansion, we're broadening digital access and accelerating digital transformation across Latin America, while supporting growth in a responsible and sustainable manner."
Subject to customary closing conditions, the deal is expected to be immediately accretive to Equinix's adjusted funds from operations (AFFO) per share, excluding integration costs.
Under the terms of the agreement, Equinix and Entel will partner to enable enterprises in Chile and Peru to use hybrid multicloud solutions to accelerate their digital transformation.
"This strategic partnership with Equinix, a world leading digital infrastructure company, allows us to focus our resources on businesses that add value to our customers," said Antonio Büchi, CEO of Entel.
"Entel has transformed over the years, and this partnership, which is more than an infrastructure transaction, is intended to set an important milestone in our strategic plan to extend our offerings into delivering digital services and provide expertise with new solutions that will accelerate our client's digital transformation."
In addition, approximately 120 Entel employees and contractors are expected to become Equinix employees or contractors, while more than 100 Entel customers operating in the four data centres will become Equinix customers.
"This is an exciting time for Latin America. The growth Chile and Peru are experiencing is driving and expanding a new set of requirements around data centre and cloud connectivity," said Jon Lin, executive vice president and general manager of data centre services & president, Americas (Interim), Equinix
"With these new sites, businesses in this region as well as multinationals will be able to operate on an expanded global interconnection platform to process, store, interconnect and distribute larger volumes of latency-sensitive data and applications at the digital edge, closer to end users and local markets."
