The Peruvian Ministry of Transport and Communications (MTC) has announced plans to begin reassigning spectrum in the 800MHz band in order to allow the deployment of 4G and rural services.
The band in question has so far been used for the deployment of trunked networks, technology inherited from the operator Entel which is described as currently obsolete.
MTC hopes that the reassignment process will allow these frequency bands to be better used, suggesting that the reassignment of the 800MHz band (806 – 824MHz 851 – 869MHz) could benefit more Peruvians, not only through the deployment of modern services based on mobile technologies such as 4G but through the development of smart cities.
There is 4G coverage already in place from a number of mobile operators. However, the 800MHz band is at the lower frequency end of mobile-friendly spectrum, which means that such signals are attractive for delivering wide geographic coverage – notably in rural areas.
Thus the hope is also that these measures will contribute to closing the digital divide, especially in rural areas. In fact, MTC argues that the investment commitments obtained from the process could be allocated to the implementation of telecommunications infrastructure in underserved rural and remote areas of the country.
It’s not clear, however, when this process will begin or, for that matter, how or whether an auction process will be involved.