Vietnam’s Viettel was the winner of Peru’s 4G spectrum auction.
Investment promotion agency ProInversión offered two blocks of 15MHz each in the AWS-3 band and one 30MHz block in the 2.3GHz band.
Viettel was awarded blocks A and B of the AWS-3 band with a total of 44,241 points, more than 10,000 points above competitor Claro. It was also awarded the spectrum in the 2.3GHz band with a score of 18,955.
Each award is for 20 years. Telefónica did not take part in the auction.
The auction was not based on revenue but on investment commitments, which are expected to amount to more than US$600mn, according to ProInversión.
Points considered coverage and areas difficult to reach with mobile connectivity, among other factors.
As a result of the contest, 3,825 rural areas will have 4G mobile services, of which 3,282 are due have the services in the first year of the concession contract and 543 in the second year.
In addition to Viettel and América Móvil’s Claro, Entel submitted bids.
Claro came second in bidding for the AWS-3 spectrum while Entel came second in the case of 2.3GHz.
Telefónica had already announced that it would not participate in the auction. “We are not going to participate because the cost of the obligations in Peru was well above the international cost and did not justify participating,” Miguel Calderón, the company's director of strategy and public policy, told BNamericas recently.
The company had pre-qualified for the tender.
Spain’s Telefónica is the main operator in Peru with 30.05% of mobile customers, according to the latest figures from regulator Osiptel. It is followed by Claro with 29.74% of users and Entel with 23.04%. Viettel is the fourth operator with 16.7% of the mobile market, the figures show.
Last year, the same tender had to be suspended due to concern among interested companies about investment and rural coverage commitments.
Source: https://www.bnamericas.com/en/news/viettel-emerges-as-winner-in-perus-4g-auction