Colombia’s Ministry of Information Technology and Communications (Ministerio de Tecnologias de la Informacion y las Comunicaciones, MinTIC), in conjunction with the National Spectrum Agency (Agencia Nacional de Espectro, ANE) has initiated a public consultation regarding its plans to auction frequencies in the 700MHz and 1900MHz bands. As a first step, the authorities seek to increase the existing spectrum caps in the sub-1GHz ‘low bands’ (689MHz to 960MHz) from 30MHz to 45MHz per operator, simultaneously increasing the spectrum caps in the ‘high bands’ (1710MHz to 2690MHz) from 85MHz to 90MHz.
As per the draft resolution, a total of 70MHz (2x 35MHz) of spectrum will be offered in the 700MHz band (713MHz-748MHz, paired with 768MHz-803MHz). The 700MHz spectrum is expected to be divided up as follows: 2x 15MHz blocks (Block A), 2x 10MHz blocks (Block B) and two 2x 5MHz blocks (Blocks C and D). A supplementary 2x 2.5MHz block of 1900MHz spectrum will also be auctioned, comprising frequencies in the 1865MHz-1867.5MHz/1945MHz-1947.5MHz bands (Block E).
The public consultation commenced on 7 February, and will remain open until 7 March 2017.