El Instituto Federal de Telecomunicaciones (IFT), the Mexican telecommunications regulator, has announced plans to put out to tender 6,158 spectrum blocks for wireless access services.
In what it describes as a consultative process, it is calling for comment from all parties interested in the bidding process, as well as the academic sector, experts, private, public and civil society organisations and the general public. The process is open for a period of 20 working days, from 7 May to 3 June.
The tender, once public consultations are over, will make portions of spectrum in the 600MHz (for both national coverage and what are known as partial service areas or APS), L-band (national), AWS (APS), PCS (APS), 2.5GHz (APS) and 800MHz (APS) bands available to operators. Concessions will be granted for 20 years.
Some of the bands could be used for 5G networks, though this announcement does not outline minimum reference value or coverage commitments.
Last year, according to the BNamericas news service, IFT said it had about 330MHz of spectrum available for bidding. The same source points out that spectrum pricing could be an issue, having put off would-be buyers during previous bidding processes.
Still, there’s quite a long time to go. Expressions of interest are expected by this September. Evaluation and issuance of certificates of participation are to take place no later than March 2025. The presentation of offers is due to take place from May 5 2025 – just under a year from now.