Mexico’s Federal Telecommunications Institute (Instituto Federal de Telecomunicaciones, IFT) has submitted new proposals for 5G spectrum to the country’s Senate.
As reported by TeleGeography, in a bid to enable “‘the efficient allocation of radio spectrum for these [5G] services” the IFT has proposed reducing the price of spectrum in the bands that have been set aside for 5G use. These include the 600MHz, L-band (1500MHz), 3.3GHz-3.45GHz and 3.45GHz-3.6GHz bands.
Additionally, the regulator has proposed changing the size of the slated coverage areas for 800MHz and 850MHz spectrum from nine cellular regions to 65 basic service areas. The IFT argues that facilitating smaller geographical deployments would allow new players to enter the market, with licence fees to be adjusted according to the economic level of the relevant area.
Finally, the IFT recommends introducing an accreditation scheme to reduce operator payment obligations in exchange for providing ‘social coverage’ in unserved and underserved locations.
Earlier this year, the IFT proposed a reduction in spectrum fees to the Ministry of Finance and Public Credit (Secretaría de Hacienda y Credito Publico, SHCP).
Explaining its proposals, the IFT stated: “It is important to note that the first two proposals do not imply a reduction in the budget income of the federation. In the first case, the reduction of the amounts of radio spectrum band rights that are not yet assigned for the provision of mobile services does not mean loss of income, precisely because they have not yet been assigned. Thus, if the amounts of the rights quotas are reduced, these bands will be much more attractive in future bidding processes, which will also result in new income from consideration and payment of rights for the federation and will avoid, as already happens, that blocks of spectrum remain deserted in spectrum tenders.”