Colombia’s Ministry of Information Technology and Communications (Mintic) and the Spectrum Agency (ANE) has announced that the start of the auction for spectrum in the 1.7/2.1 GHz, 2.5 GHz and 1.9 GHz bands will be postponed from Aug. 22 to Sept. 5 (check full calendar here – in Spanish). The government expects LTE services to be available in the country by 2013.
The auction includes a total of 225 megahertz of spectrum spread across different frequencies: 1710MHz-1755MHz, 1850MHz-1990MHz, 2110MHz-2155MHz and 2500MHz-2690MHz. The goal is for operators to launch LTE services in these new bands.
This week, the Colombian government hosted an event named “Foro Internacional 4G” in which they sought to showcase Colombia as an attractive country for foreign investment with a strategic location as the gateway to Latin America.
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During the event, the local paper El Colombiano reported that ANE’s president Óscar León Suárez said an initial auction will be performed to allocate 70 megahertz of spectrum for newcomers to this market. According to the paper, operators that are interested in participating included NII Holding (Nextel), Entel Chile, DirecTV, ETB and Avantel.
The second round will be open for all carriers. (The main wireless operators in Colombia are Comcel, Movistar and Colombia Móvil–Tigo).
Earlier, the government said it intends to encourage competition among incumbent providers and promote the entrance of new telecoms into the market, including foreign carriers.
ANE also announced that the auction process to deliver spectrum in the 700 MHz band will begin next year, according to El Colombiano. The 700 MHz band is currently being used in the United States to offer LTE services, with Canada expected to auction airwaves in that band later this year.
Want to know more about the Colombian wireless situation? Be sure to download the RCR Wireless feature report about the telecom market in Colombia.
