Chile’s national economic prosecutor (FNE) has asked the local antirust authority (TDLC) to develop a framework to create a secondary market for mobile operators to trade spectrum licences.
The FNE said operators needed to be allowed to trade spectrum…
Chile’s national economic prosecutor (FNE) has asked the local antirust authority (TDLC) to develop a framework to create a secondary market for mobile operators to trade spectrum licences.
The FNE said operators needed to be allowed to trade spectrum to make the most of available frequencies.
However, it expressed concerns that some mobile operators could acquire spectrum to raise the cost of frequencies for their competitors rather than expand their own services.
To counteract this eventuality the FNE has recommended that it subjects spectrum transfers to a 60-day review process to consider the competitive repercussions of the transaction.
If the transfer fails the test then it would be put to the TDLC which would begin a consultation process with the operator.
Once the transaction has passed the competition test it will go to telecoms regulator Subtel, which will consider the technical implications of a transfer.
Chile currently has three substantial network operators Movistar, Entel and Claro, while NII’s local Nextel unit also operates a small iDEN network.
Liberty Global-owned cableco VTR had run a hybrid network split between its own infrastructure and roaming agreements with Movistar. However it shut down its network and became an MVNO earlier this year to cut costs.
