In sharp contrast to other areas, just a handful of Latin American telecom markets have actually seen 5G launch activity to date, with significant examples consisting of the similarity Brazil and Chile.
Nevertheless, a variety of excitedly waited for 5G spectrum auctions are anticipated to occur in the area in the coming months.
Today we take a closer take a look at the LatAm markets where we can anticipate to witness 5G auction activity prior to completion of the year.
Argentina
Proposed Auction Date: Summertime 2023 (TBC)
Readily Available Spectrum: 1500MHz, AWS-3 band, 2.3 GHz, 3.5 GHz, 26GHz, and 38GHz
After a series of hold-ups, Argentina’s multi-band 5G spectrum auction might now get underway as early as this month The brand-new timeline was exposed by Gustavo Lopez, Vice President of the National Communications Company, at the Might 2023 Web Day occasion in Buenos Aires.
The 5G auction is anticipated to consist of the list below frequency bands: 1427MHz-1518MHz (1500MHz band); 1770MHz-1780MHz/ 2170MHz-2180MHz (AWS-3 band); 2300MHz-2400MHz (2.3 GHz band); 3.3GHz-3.6 GHz (3.5 GHz); 24.25GHz-25.75 GHz (26GHz band); and 37GHz-43.5 GHz (38GHz band).
According to federal government forecasts, the auction might raise as much as $1.4 billion.
Colombia
Proposed Auction Date: December 20, 2023
Readily Available Spectrum: 700MHz, 1900MHz, 2.5 GHz, 3.5 GHz, and 26GHz
At the end of 2022, Colombia’s Ministry of Info Technologies and Communications (MinTIC) exposed that an overall of 9 business had revealed an interest in protecting 5G spectrum licenses ahead of its December 29, 2022 due date.
The list consisted of recognized mobile gamers such as Claro, Tigo, Movistar, Empresa De Telecomuncaciones De Bogota, and Partners Telecom Colombia, together with unidentified amounts like Colombia WB Hots, Global Play, EGC Colombia, and OSC Top Solutions Group.
The federal government is poised to disperse spectrum in the 700MHz, 1900MHz, 2.5 GHz, 3.5 GHz, and 26GHz bands, although MinTIC worried that not all potential candidates have an interest in bidding on all bands.
In June 2023, MinTIC revealed that the multi-band spectrum auction will start on December 20, 2023.
The guard dog states it will release a resolution setting out the technical conditions and legal requirements for involvement in August 2023. The reserve cost, responsibilities, and warranties will be exposed the following month.
MinTIC has actually set a tentative November 10 date for applications.
Costa Rica
Proposed Auction Date: H2 2023
Readily Available Spectrum: 2.6 GHz, 3.5 GHz
In Might 2023, Costa Rica’s Ministry of Science, Innovation and Telecom (MICITT) officially advised the Superintendency of Telecom (Sutel) to start the nation’s 5G auction procedure The choice was consisted of in the Authorities Gazette on Might 2, 2023, by means of Executive Arrangement No. 031-2023-TEL-MICITT.
Sutel was positioned in charge of staging a public assessment, developing qualified bidders, and running the tender procedure.
While the 5G auction will primarily consist of spectrum in the 3.5 GHz band, frequencies in the 2600MHz band might likewise be consisted of in the spectrum sale. The auction is allocated to occur in the 2nd half of 2023.
Dominican Republic
Proposed Auction Date: H2 2023
Readily Available Spectrum: 700MHz
Likewise in May 2023, the Dominican Telecom Institute (Indotel) revealed strategies to phase an auction of unused 700MHz frequencies The tender will be introduced in the coming months, with the auction procedure anticipated to conclude at the start of 2024.
The 700MHz frequencies were initially consisted of in 2021’s 5G spectrum auction, together with 3.5 GHz airwaves, however stopped working to bring in any quotes. 9 2 Ã 5MHz blocks of 700MHz spectrum were consisted of in the initial tender.
In 2015, Indotel Executive Director Julissa Cruz confessed that the commitment to use regional roaming access to competing operators not in belongings of low-band spectrum for 3 years was the essential consider detering the nation’s cellcos to bid the very first time around, hinting that the initial terms would now be modified.
Other, as-yet-unspecified spectrum blocks might likewise go under the hammer.
As kept in mind by Indotel: “The administration … has actually concentrated on the reorganization of obsolete radio spectrum, so that it can be utilized to enhance the protection of the services used by the companies in the nationwide area … In the exact same sense, they have actually taken concrete procedures, such as the closure of more than 50 stations that were running unlawfully, the healing of idle spectrum and the cleansing up of radio interaction bands.”
Mexico
Proposed Auction Date: H2 2023
Readily Available Spectrum: 600MHz, 1500MHz, and 3.3 GHz
Mexico’s prepared 5G auction has actually currently produced a lot of debate– in spite of the truth that a date hasn’t even been set for the spectrum sale.
Mexico’s prepared 5G auction has actually currently produced a lot of debate– in spite of the truth that a date hasn’t even been set for the spectrum sale.
In Mexico, effective bidders pay an in advance cost in addition to a yearly frequency use cost throughout of the concession. With licenses usually legitimate for twenty years, the rates of the licenses are far greater than the comparable concessions in other markets.
In October 2022, Alejandro Navarrete Torres, Head of the Radio Spectrum System at the Federal Telecom Institute (IFT), observed that the expense of spectrum in Mexico is “ as much as 186% greater than the worldwide average“
The primary 5G spectrum bands set up for addition in the IFT’s auction are: a 70MHz block in the 614MHz-698MHz (600MHz) band, a 50MHz block at 3300MHz-3350MHz, and 90MHz in the L-band (1427MHz-1518MHz).
The IFT is likewise weighing up the prospective addition of unused spectrum in a variety of other bands, consisting of 800MHz, 850MHz, 1900MHz, AWS, and 2.5 GHz frequencies– a few of which were given up by Movistar in 2020.
Nevertheless, as things stand, America Movil-backed Telcel might be the only Mexican cellco to take part in the spectrum auction, with market experts tipping both AT&T and Movistar to remain the procedure on expense premises.
Nicaragua
Proposed Auction Date: TBC
Readily Available Spectrum: 3.5 GHz
In November 2022, the Nicaraguan Institute for Telecom and Posts (Telcor) laid out strategies to use the 3.5 GHz band to support the nation’s future 5G aspirations.
Based On Administrative Arrangement No. 002-2022– which appeared in the nation’s Authorities Gazette on November 24, 2022– the guard dog has actually booked the 3300MHz-3400MHz, 3400MHz-3600MHz, and 3600MHz-3700MHz bands for the arrangement of 5G services.
Telcor observed that the presently granted spectrum holdings in the 3.5 GHz band– thought to consist of a 50MHz block held by Claro– are “not technically sufficient to please the bandwidth specs” of 5G. This suggests that a reorganization will occur prior to any brand-new concessions are dispersed.
The intro of 5G kinds part of the federal government’s “National Strategy to eliminate Hardship and for Human Being Advancement 2022-2026.”
Nicaraguan spectrum auctions are something of a rarity. The last significant one occurred a complete years earlier.
Nicaraguan spectrum auctions are something of a rarity. The last significant one occurred a complete years earlier— in 2012/2013, when Beijing-based research study and advancement company Xinwei Telecom Business Group snagged a 1785MHz-1805MHz license.
On that celebration, the cost of the concession was comprehended to have actually been slashed from $90 million to $20 million.
