The Colombian Government opens 4G providers auction
The Ministry of IT and the Communications Regulation Commission, CRC, announced the final draft of the auction to deliver five operating licenses for mobile Internet 4G. In total, the GOC will grant permissions to 160 MHz, that will be auctioned in three segments of 30 megahertz (MHz) in the AWS band, while in the 2500 Mhz band delivered 70 Mhz, will be delivered in 2013.
Interested parties may comment on the draft of the auction until Nov. 19, the final statement will be released in December and the auction will take place in February 2013.
Winning entities must cover all municipal capitals with over 8,000 people to June 2014 and the entire country five years after receiving the license, for its part, the starters have 10 years to deploy their infrastructure. Under the terms of the auction, operators will be required to distribute 350,000 tablets with an Internet connection on a social plan for the whole country, while the starters have to deliver 150,000 tablets.
Among the interested companies one can find so far: Anditel, Avatel, Comcel, Tigo, Directv, Emcali, ETB, Entel, International Communications Networks, Movistar, Telmex, UNE and NII Holding.
Expectations for the auction are approximately more than US$ 200 billion dollars and will occur in two forms: one open and one private. The second is for new entrants, that will not have to compete with those already operating in the country, with the aim of encouraging the arrival of new market entrants.
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Opportunities for U.S. Wireless Service Providers in Colombia
According to a Colombia Reports article, “Colombia‘s minister of information technologies and communication was in Washington Thursday to woo private investors and promote Colombia’s wireless Internet plan, which would see the expansion of fiber-optics and a 4G network across the country — and into remote regions, the Washington Times reported.“
The Washington Times also highlighted that Colombia plans to auction two 4G contracts to Internet companies in September. Officials estimate it will cost $500 million to build the network in addition to the auction price.
On May 22, the Ministry of Information Technologies and Communications hosted a 4G International Forum in Bogota to attract investors to develop the nationwide 4G network. And on May 30 the Ministry announced it will adopt the Asia Pacific Telecommunity (APT) Standard for 4G technologies. The APT is part of the International Telecommunications Union. With the migration from analog to digital TV, the 700 MHz spectrum is expected to be available for bids/allocation by the end of the year.
Government To Auction Off Four Licenses for 4G Cell Phone Service
Colombia’s leading newspaper, El Tiempo, reported that the Colombian Government plans to grant four rather than two licenses for use of the broadband spectrum for 4G cell phone operations. Bidding started on Thursday, March 22, and several companies (Comcel, Movistar, Avantel, DirecTV, Nextel, and Oi) have already expressed interest. Technology Minister Diego Molano was confident that more companies would join the process and said that the part of the proceeds from the licensing auction would go toward acquiring computers for 300,000 students.
