Costa Rican telecom regulator Sutel has cleared telcos Claro and Movistar to participate in the upcoming auction for seven blocks of spectrum in the 1800MHz and 1900MHz/2100MHz bands.
The units of Mexico's América Móvil and Spanish operator Telefónica were the only two companies that presented technical offers. Tigo, a company of Luxembourg-based Millicom, submitted comments on the bidding process, but did not present a technical bid.
A total of 70MHz of spectrum left over from the auction in 2010-2011 will be on offer. Sutel had hoped to attract new players to compete with state telco ICE, Claro and Movistar.
The tender, which has been delayed several times, comprises two 20MHz blocks in the 1800MHz band and two 15MHz blocks in the 1900/2100MHz band.
With the new auction, the country is taking "important steps" to foster competition and improve the service quality in the telecom sector, said Sutel president Gilbert Camacho in a statement.
Sutel will set a minimum price for each block and bidders will then decide how many blocks they are willing to bid for.
If demand exceeds the offering, a subsequent round will be carried out increasing the price per block by up to 20%. This process will be repeated until demand is equal to or lower than the amount of tendered spectrum.