The government of Peru approved a plan to assign spectrum directly to operators and allow them to commit to coverage investments instead of paying in cash, with the aim of promoting the deployment of public telecommunications services using 5G Standalone (5G SA) technology.
Through a decree issued by the transport and communications ministry (MTC), the government will allow operators to invest in closing telecoms gaps in rural areas or places of preferential social interest as compensation for the spectrum they receive via direct allocations.
The new regulation authorizes the MTC to assign radio spectrum directly to interested companies, after calling for expressions of interest, provided that the demand by those operators does not exceed the spectrum available in the corresponding frequency band.
Currently, the initial deployment of 5G technology in Peru is being carried out under the 5G Non-Standalone (5G NSA) standard. According to MTC data, only 30 of Peru’s 1,891 districts had partial 5G coverage last year.
“5G will allow for the massification of connections by devices without losing quality in transmission, enabling applications such as the Internet of Things, telemedicine, tele-education, automation and remote management, among other applications,” said the Minister of Transport and Communications Raul Pérez Reyes.
“They [the companies] will pay their commitments with obligations [through coverage] of 4G services throughout the Panamericana Norte, Sur and the main national roads,” the minister added.
Previous reports stated that Peru aims to carry out a spectrum tender to award 5G frequencies in January 2025.
The tender is planned to involve 300 megahertz of spectrum in the 3.3-3.4 GHz and 3.6-3.8 GHz bands, as well as 800 megahertz in the 25.9-26.7 GHz band with national coverage.
Investment promotion agency ProInversión initially estimated a reference price of $759 million for the 3.5 GHz band and $85.8 million for the 26GHz band.
The concessions will be valid for 20 years.
Peru’s main telecom operators are Claro, owned by America Movil; Movistar, owned by Telefonica, Entel Peru and Bitel.