Mexico’s Federal Telecommunications Institute (Instituto Federal de Telecomunicaciones, IFT) has confirmed that it will tender additional wireless frequencies in the 1700MHz and 2.5GHz bands in 2019. The AWS spectrum in question will be a 2×5MHz block in the 1755MHz-1760MHz/2155MHz-2160MHz range, while the 2.5GHz spectrum will comprise frequencies in the 2500MHz-2530MHz/2620MHz-2650MHz bands. In addition, the 824MHz-849MHz/869MHz-894MHz will be made available for ‘social use’.
As previously reported by TeleGeography’s CommsUpdate, last month the IFT successfully freed up the 600MHz band, paving the way for the frequencies to be repurposed for 5G mobile use. The 600MHz band could be auctioned as early as 1Q19, local reports have suggested.