The Argentine government had said that the 5G spectrum auction is expected to take place during the first days of November
Argentine mobile carriers Personal (owned by Telecom Argentina), Movistar (owned by Spain’s Telefonica) and Claro (owned by Mexican telecommunications group America Movil) have expressed their commitment to take part in the country’s upcoming 5G spectrum auction, according to local press reports.
Movistar and Personal have presented the necessary guarantees to participate in the process. They joined Claro, which had already presented its guarantee, according to the report.
Local carriers had until September 29 to submit their offers. The spectrum auction is expected to take place during the first days of November.
Last month, the board of Argentina’s National Entity of Communications board (Enacom) approved the terms of a long-delayed spectrum auction for the provision of 5G services in the country.
Enacom confirmed it will make available a total of 300 megahertz of spectrum in the 3.3-3.6 GHz bands, in three batches of 100 megahertz.
Enacom said that it expects to collect $350 million with each portion of 100 megahertz of spectrum in the process.
The government reserved a portion of spectrum in the 3.6-.3.7 GHz band for state-run telecom operator Arsat for the adoption of 5G by the public sector or by signing agreements with cooperatives and SMEs, something that had been criticized by local operators.
Argentine mobile operators had issued a joint statement opposing to the terms recently approved by the government to auction 5G spectrum.
Personal, Movistar and Claro had urged the government to revise the tender documents for the 5G auction as they considered that the recently approved terms were not viable.
“It should be noted that the price assigned to each of the three blocks of 100 megahertz of spectrum in the 3.5 GHz band is very high compared to the macroeconomic situation of the country, our clients and the sector,” the telcos said.
The companies also noted that “the base price set by [telecommunications regulator] Enacom is 300% higher than that of the same band established by Brazil, which has a completely different economic situation and is one of the best examples of 5G spectrum auction in the region.”
They also opposed to the fact that the government decided to allocate 100 megahertz of spectrum to state-run operator Arsat for free, stating that this decision would generate economic distortions and legal uncertainties in the local telecommunications market.
5G subscribers in Argentina are expected to reach 34.7 million by 2030, up compared to 5.7 million in 2025, according to a report by telecom association GSMA.
The GSMA report showed that 5G penetration in Argentina is expected to reach 9% by 2025 while it would expand to 48% by 2030.
GSMA also noted that 5G networks will cover 84% of Argentina’s population by 2030, up from 38% in 2025.
