Colombia’s Ministry of Information Technologies and Communications (Ministerio de Tecnologias de la Informacion y las Comunicaciones, MinTIC) has published its final resolution on the long-delayed auction of mobile spectrum in the 700MHz, 1900MHz and 2500MHz bands, setting a date of 12 December 2019 for the licence bidding. MinTIC has invited potential bidders to study the requirements and conditions for participating in the auction process, which it said will help reduce the digital divide in communities nationwide, especially in rural and remote areas currently lacking mobile broadband connectivity.
Up for grabs in the tender is 2×45MHz of 700MHz spectrum (703MHz-748MHz paired with 758MHz-803MHz) split into four 2×10MHz blocks and one 2×5MHz portion; plus a 2×2.5MHz 1900MHz band allocation and eight 10MHz blocks in the 2500MHz band.
New spectrum is expected to be utilised initially for 4G services (augmenting existing 1700MHz/2100MHz [AWS] and 2600MHz-based LTE networks) while the 700MHz band has also been earmarked for 5G rollout.
Licences will be issued for 20 years, compared to existing ten-year cellular concessions, with no minimum bid price but with key assessment criteria focusing on applicants’ technical proposals, rollout schedule and investment plans.