Mexico’s Federal Telecommunications Institute (Instituto Federal de Telecomunicaciones, IFT) has released draft bidding rules for its planned auction of spectrum in the 2500MHz-2690MHz (‘2.5GHz’) band. As per the watchdog’s provisional plans, up to 130MHz of radio spectrum will be made available in six national 20MHz blocks: four time division duplex (TDD) blocks and two frequency division duplex (FDD) blocks. The remaining 10MHz will be reserved as ‘guard band’ spectrum. All concessions will be made available for a 20-year period. The IFT is open to submissions until 4 September 2017.
In related news, El Economista has reported that the IFT has reclaimed 166MHz of 2.5GHz spectrum in Ciudad Juarez and Chihuahua from Megacable. The report suggests that the compensation package offered to the cableco for surrendering its frequencies will be in the region of MXN74.3 million (USD4.2 million).
Last month the regulator seized a 190MHz block of 2.5GHz spectrum in Baja California from TDS Comunicaciones. Such frequencies are expected to be made available via the forthcoming spectrum tender.