Spectrum auction funds expansion

Colombia’s Ministry of Communications and ICT has awarded 25MHz spectrum in the 1900MHz band. Tigo and Comcel were each awarded 5MHz in band A, whilst Telefonica Moviles won 5MHz in band D, and 10MHz in band E. The allocation was part of a government strategy to increase the resources available to telcos, allowing them to improve services. The auction raised USD79.8 million which will be split 50/50 between the ‘Vive Digital’ programme and network expansion into rural areas. ‘Vive Digital’ aims to increase the country’s broadband subscribers to 8.8 million by 2014. The ministry is planning to double the amount of spectrum that has been allocated. According to TeleGeography’s GlobalComms database, in March 2011 Colombia had 2.8 million broadband customers. To reach its target, Colombia’s broadband market will have to grow by an average of 550,000 subscribers per quarter.