Mexico’s Federal Telecommunications Institute (Instituto Federal de Telecomunicaciones, IFT) has informed Telcel and AT&T of the renewal fees for their existing 850MHz concessions. Each company will pay MXN1.231 billion (USD65.1 million) for a 2×10MHz concession. AT&T’s licences expired last year, while Telcel’s licences are due to expire in 2025. (Note: the AT&T frequencies previously belonged to Nextel de Mexico, which AT&T acquired for USD1.875 billion back in 2015.)
As per the report, AT&T has renewed spectrum in the 814MHz-824MHz/859MHz-869MHz band, while Telcel’s licence includes 835MHz-845MHz/880MHz-890MHz spectrum. According to El Economista, the spectrum covers Nuevo Leon, Michoacan, Coahuila, Tamaulipas, Hidalgo, Edomex, Veracruz, Queretaro, Mexico City, Jalisco, Nayarit, Colima and some highway routes that connect the capital with the Mexican Gulf and the Pacific coast.
Both licence renewals are valid for 20 years, the report notes.