Cofotel, Mexico’s telecoms regulator, has announced that the country’s three smallest mobile networks bid Ps2.98bn (US$230m) for a chunk of 30Mhz of additional radio spectrum in its recent auction.
According to the regulator, Spain’s Telefonica bid…
Cofotel, Mexico’s telecoms regulator, has announced that the country’s three smallest mobile networks bid Ps2.98bn (US$230m) for a chunk of 30Mhz of additional radio spectrum in its recent auction.
According to the regulator, Spain’s Telefonica bid Ps2.9bn (US$230m) for 14 blocks of 10Mhz in the 1850Mhz-1990Mhz frequency band. A consortium formed by Grupo Televisa and Nextel bid Ps48.3m (US$3.75m) for a single 10Mhz block, while Lusacell won nine 10Mhz blocks for Ps65.4m (US$5.1m).
Grupo Televisa has agreed to invest $1.44bn in cash for an initial 30% equity stake in NII’s Mexican subsidiary to jointly fund the 3G spectrum purchases and network build. The investment was contingent upon the consortium of Nextel and Grupo Televisa winning rights to use specified amounts of spectrum in the auction.
The country’s dominant mobile network, Telcel, was not awarded any radio spectrum in the auction, although it had qualified for the bidding process.
The regulator is in the process of holding a second auction for radio spectrum in the 1710Mhz-2170Mhz bands.
