The tender for 4G LTE spectrum is set to begin on February 15
Mexican telecommunications regulator Federal Telecommunications Institute (IFT) confirmed that mobile operators America Movil and AT&T will be allowed to participate in a 4G LTE mobile spectrum auction scheduled to begin Feb. 15.
In the auction, the Mexican telecom regulator aims to award 80 megahertz of spectrum in the 1710-1780 MHz and 2110-2180 MHz bands. Of the total spectrum to be auctioned, 30 megahertz will be for AWS-1 bands (1710-1725 MHz/2110-2125 MHz) and the remaining 50 megahertz will be for AWS-3 bands (1755-1780 MHz/2155-2180 MHz).
The regulator said that the two companies met the legal, financial and technical requirements of the auction. The two bands will not be operational for the next two years and Telefonica will not take part in the auction, according to officials.
The mobile telephony market in Mexico is dominated by America Movil with a market share of nearly 68%. AT&T entered the Mexican market last year through the acquisition of local operator Iusacell and Nextel Mexico.
By the end of 2015, AT&T’s 4G LTE network reached 44 million people. The company recently said that it expects to expand its 4G LTE coverage to reach 75 million people by the end of this year.
America Movil Q4 profits reach $832 million
In related news, Mexican mobile operator America Movil recorded a net profit of 15.6 billion pesos ($832 million) in the fourth quarter of 2015, up compared to 2.62 billion pesos in the year-ago quarter.
“Our net profit for the quarter was six times higher than in the year-earlier quarter as our comprehensive financing costs came down along with foreign exchange losses,” the company said in a statement.
The operator’s overall revenues for the quarter reached 231 billion pesos, up 0.6% year-on-year.
EBITDA totaled 63.9 billion pesos in the quarter, down 5.1% vs. the same quarter the previous year.
America Movil’s capital expenditures for full 2015 reached 164 billion pesos.
The telco’s wireless subscriber base ended 2015 at 286 million clients while the fixed-line RGUs reached 81 million units, for a total of 367 million access lines. In Mexico, America Movil ended 2015 with 73.7 million subscribers in the mobile segment.
