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LatAm Wrap-Up: Peru to auction AWS spectrum; Mexico to invest $55B in telecom

The advanced wireless services (1.7/2.1 GHz) spectrum band auction in Peru is scheduled for July 22. ProInversión announced that four carriers have qualified to bid in the auction that will enable LTE deployment in the country. The participating telecom operators are: Telefónica Móviles (Movistar), América Movil Perú (Claro), Americatel Perú (which belongs to Entel Chile) and Viettel Perú. ProInversión has established the minimum price (base price) at $63.384 million for each block of bands: 1710–1770 MHz and 2110–2170 MHz.

Investment up: Mexican president Enrique Peña Nieto announced that investment in the telecommunications sector will reach $55.5 billion between 2013-2018. During the launch of the Program of Transport and Communications, the president acknowledged that the pace of investment grown in the country’s  infrastructure has fallen short of the needs of the population and industry.

Cutting debt: Telefónica has been granted permission to sell 40% of its assets in four Central American countries for $500 million. The sale is part of its effort to cut debt. The deal is expected to close within the next few days, since Spain’s market authority, Comisión Nacional del Mercado de Valores, said that Telefónica met the conditions for the sale and could move forward.

Out of the market?: The French group Orange could be preparing to exit the Dominican Republic, unnamed sources told Reuters. The potential sale could fetch up to $1.2 billion. Orange Dominicana, which provides mobile telephone and Internet services to retail and business customers, is seen as a non-core market asset, the sale of which could help pay down Orange’s debt. The country has about nine million mobile phone users and one million fixed lines. Claro leads the mobile market in the Dominican Republic, followed by Orange, Viva and Tricom.

Emerging smartphone markets: Emerging markets present a significant growth opportunity for cell phone manufacturers. Aiming at this potential market, ArcSoft, provider of imaging technologies and applications, announced a new partnership with Qualcomm to bring affordable smartphones with advanced imaging technology to emerging markets in South America, Asia and Africa.

More news from Latin America

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