Mexican telecoms giant América Móvil has bid Ps2.1bn (US$114.8m) in the country’s AWS spectrum auction, about double that spent by recent market entrant AT&T. Telecoms regulator, IFT, said the auction will raise some Ps45bn (US$2.5bn) over the next 15 years.
Mexican telecoms giant América Móvil (BMV:AMXL) has bid Ps2.1bn (US$114.8m) in the country’s AWS spectrum auction, about double that spent by recent market entrant AT&T (NYSE:T).
América Móvil’s Telcel unit has bid for 2×10 MHz of AWS-1 spectrum and 2×20 MHz of AWS-3 airwaves, telecoms regulator IFT said in a statement. This will boost Telcel’s total spectrum in both the AWS-1 and AWS-3 bands to 2×20 MHz, the regulator noted.
The news comes as the watchdog prepares to review how its reforms to reshape the market to reduce América Móvil’s dominance have gone.
US telco AT&T, for its part, bid Ps1.03bn (US$56.3m) for 2×10 MHz of AWS-1 spectrum, which will give it 2×25 MHz of AWS spectrum in total. AT&T entered Mexico last year through the acquisitions of Iusacell and Nextel.
The IFT said the auction, the final results of which will be posted within 10 working days, will raise some Ps45bn (US$2.5bn) over the next 15 years, taking into account annual spectrum licence fees. Of this, América Móvil will contribute Ps31bn (US$1.7bn) and AT&T Ps12.7bn (US$6.9bn), the regulator added.
As such, América Móvil’s share of available spectrum in the IMT bands will increase to 41.2% from 29.8%. AT&T’s portion will drop to 38.2% from 43.7%. Telefónica’s will fall to 19.5% from 25.1%, while construction company Grupo SAI’s share will dwindle to 1.1% from 1.4%.
In 2014, Telmex had 80% of the fixed-line market and Telcel 70% of the mobile market. Media group Televisa, also declared dominant, had 70% of the broadcast TV market and 65% of the cable and satellite market. At the time, a 50% market share was deemed to be dominant.
Last week, América Móvil CEO Daniel Hajj (pictured) said he was confident that the IFT would would find the company had helped to create a more competitive market.
