The planned auction of 700MHz spectrum in Colombia has been delayed until 2018, local website Portafolio.co reports. David Luna, head of the Ministry of Information Technology and Communications (Ministerio de Tecnologias de la Informacion y las Comunicaciones, MinTIC), told the website that previously stated plans to increase the existing spectrum caps have yet to come to fruition, meaning the watchdog has been unable to proceed with the auction process. MinTIC seeks to raise the cap covering the sub-1GHz ‘low bands’ (689MHz to 960MHz) from 30MHz to 45MHz per operator, while simultaneously increasing the spectrum cap in the ‘high bands’ (1710MHz to 2690MHz) from 85MHz to 90MHz.
As previously reported by TeleGeography’s CommsUpdate, MinTIC published Resolution 585 of 2017 on 24 March 2017, inviting interested parties to express their interest in its planned auction of frequencies in the 700MHz and 1900MHz bands. The auction will primarily comprise spectrum in the 703MHz-748MHz and 758MHz-803MHz bands, alongside a supplementary 2×2.5MHz block of 1900MHz spectrum, made up of frequencies in the 1865MHz-1867.5MHz/1945MHz-1947.5MHz bands.