Colombia sets the bar for LTE providers

Colombian operators that successfully bid for 4G spectrum in the upcoming auction will have until Q1 2014 to provide Long Term Evolution (LTE) services to 350,000 users, though new entrants to the market will be required to serve just 150,000 customers by the same date, reports BN Americas citing draft rules from the Ministry of Information Technology and Communications (MinTIC). In addition, operators will be required to provide LTE coverage of the main cities in each of Colombia’s 1,123 municipalities by Q2 2014 and must offer 24-month packages which include a device such as a laptop or tablet computer. The 4G auction, which will see the sale of 225MHz of LTE-suitable spectrum, has also been delayed further and is now expected to take place in February 2013.