Mexico telecom regulator Federal Institute of Telecommunications unveiled rules for an upcoming auction of spectrum in the 1700/2100 MHz AWS bands specifically geared toward the deployment of LTE networks. The regulator plans to auction 80 megahertz of spectrum, divided into eight national blocks, three of which correspond to the sub-band AWS-1 (1710-1755/2110-2155), three of the sub-band AWS-3 base (1755-1770/2155-2170) and two sub-band extended AWS-3 (1770-1780/2170-2180). Each block will have a total bandwidth of 10 megahertz.
The minimum price per block for sub-band AWS-1 was set at $56.43 million; and for the AWS-3 base and AWS-3 extended the minimum price was set at $7.84 million.
The governing document can be found here (in Spanish).
Global agreements
Accedian Networks and Telefónica signed a global deal under which Accedian will provide real-time network performance visibility. In a statement Telefónica Global CTO Enrique Blanco noted the goal is to take advantage of the improvement in end-to-end network performance assurance and to deliver the highest-possible levels of quality of experience at all locations the company serves. The Accedian solution is designed to unify quality-of-service visibility over Telefónica’s multivendor metro and backhaul networks using a standards-based approach. 
In another deal, Telefónica and Huawei signed a strategic memorandum of understanding to work together on the next generation of mobile networks known as “5G.” In a statement, Blanco noted the telecom group doesn’t want the 5G network startup to be a specific single event, but rather a process towards development. Asked about the impact of the MoU in Latin America, an agency representative said there’s nothing defined yet regarding the region.
Globally, Telefónica and Huawei plan to undertake joint evaluation and research into the requirements of a 5G network environment investigating the 5G network architecture needed to deliver the ambition of higher data connection speeds with low latency.
Oi taps Amdocs for BSS
Amdocs announced Brazilian service provider Oi has upgraded its business support system, based on Comverse Kenan technology, from version 11.5 to 12.2. Renato Osato, Amdocs’ VP for CALA, explained to RCR Wireless News Oi is a customer for Amdocs’ solutions for CRM, billing, measurement and professional services. Amdocs recently announced the acquisition of a substantial majority of Comverse’s BSS assets. According to Osato, the integration was carried out very quickly and all clients who owned Comverse solutions are already meeting Amdocs executives.
The largely technical upgrades were mainly focused on corporate clients with complex hierarchies, contemplating a more modern architecture and enabling a much larger number of subscribers in each billing cycle. Without disclosing the investment, Osato said the average processing times increased by a factor of 10.
More news from Latin America
Mexico – The Federal Telecommunications Institute set Dec. 17 as the date for turning off analog broadcast signals and switching to to digital transmission of terrestrial television in 28 stations from different locations in the states of Sonora, Hidalgo, Tlaxcala, Puebla, Mexico and the Federal District. In these locations the penetration of digital receivers has reached at least 90% of “poor” households.
Peru – Proinversion posted the final version of the license agreement of 700 MHz band tender.
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