The Argentinian telecoms regulator Secom has published the conditions that will be attached to 3G and 4G licences tendered later this year.
The bumper auction is the country’s first since 1999 and will see spectrum in the 700 MHz, AWS, 850 MHz and PCS…
The Argentinian telecoms regulator Secom has published the conditions that will be attached to 3G and 4G licences tendered later this year.
The bumper auction is the country’s first since 1999 and will see spectrum in the 700 MHz, AWS, 850 MHz and PCS bands sold to operators.
Secom is planning to allocate the airwaves before the end of the year. The 700 MHz and AWS frequencies, which have not been utilised before and are suitable for 4G, will be issued on a national basis.
Meanwhile the regulator plans to divide Argentina into three regional licence areas for the two 3G bands to cater for smaller players. It will also set aside spectrum for a fourth player to enter the market and challenge Telefonica subsidiary Movistar, America Movil’s unit Claro and Telecom Argentina, which operates the Personal brand. They each boast roughly a third of the mobile market each.
The 4G licences will last for 15 years and the winning bidders will be obliged to ensure coverage in provincial capitals, national corridors and cities with more than 500 people before 2020, to cover 98% of Argentina’s 42 million people.
Operators will be required to operate 4G to international standards and Secom is keen for the telcos to share their infrastructure.
In May Argentina’s minister for the economy, Axel Kicillof, was quoted as saying the government was planning to do roadshows with different companies, investors and countries to encourage new entrants to the market.
Struggling NII Holding also has a unit in the country that operates an iDEN network with a relatively small subscriber base. The US-based group is said to be close to selling its Nextel units in Argentina and Chile for US$250m to a group of investors led by Argentine media owners Sergio Szpolski and Matias Garfunkel.
Szpolski and Garfunkel, who own publisher and broadcaster Veintitres, plan to take control of Nextel Argentina and lead it into the auction later this year. The businessmen are backed by investors from Argentina and the US, and have hired KPMG to conduct due diligence on the two units.
