Mexico’s Federal Telecommunications Institute (Instituto Federal de Telecomunicaciones, IFT) has confirmed that it will seek to auction 5G-suitable spectrum in the 614MHz to 698MHz (‘600MHz’) band in 2020. The commitment forms part of the regulator’s ‘Programa Anual de Uso y Aprovechamiento de Bandas de Frecuencias 2020’ (PABF 2020). In addition, the IFT notes that the 1900MHz and 3.3GHz bands have also been earmarked for nationwide mobile use and are included in the same frequency plan.
According to TeleGeography’s GlobalComms Database, in March 2018 the IFT approved the relocation of 48 digital television channels in the 614MHz-698MHz band to pave the way for a ‘second digital dividend’. All outstanding 600MHz spectrum-holders were successfully migrated to other bands by October 2018 and the watchdog claimed that this timeline made it the first country in the world to fully release the 600MHz band for mobile broadband use.