BNAmericas writes that the Colombian government has extended the deadline for interested companies to present bids for the upcoming 4G auction, without altering the date of the auction itself. Prospective buyers have until 6 May to submit bids, extended from the previous deadline of 16 April. Elsewhere, the government has kept to its original schedule and will announce pre-qualified bidders on 28 May before the auction proper kicks off on 26 June.
TeleGeography’s GlobalComms Database notes that the auction will see 225MHz of airwaves put up for sale: a single 5MHz block of 1900MHz spectrum, three licences for 2×15MHz of paired spectrum in the 2100MHz range and four 2500MHz permissions, consisting of three 2×15MHz blocks of Frequency Division Duplex (FDD) spectrum and a single 40MHz Time Division Duplex (TDD) concession. In a bid to attract new investors to the market, the Ministry of Information Technology and Communication (MinTIC) has reserved one each of the 2100MHz and 2500MHz concessions for new players. The regulator set rollout targets for winning licensees at 50% of all municipalities by July 2014, increasing to all areas by 2018, though the network obligations were relaxed for new entrants. Claro will be restricted to bidding in the 2500MHz band, whilst Tigo and Movistar will be limited to the 2100MHz and 1900MHz ranges.