The Mexican government will resume auctioning key service segments of wireless frequency bands, with three sets of auctions scheduled for the latter half of the year.
The bands, to be auctioned by Mexico’s Federal Communications Commission equivalent, the Comision Federal de Telecomunicaciones, include:
the personal communications services band in the 1850-1990 MHz range, to begin auctioning Oct. 20;
fixed or mobile wireless access in the 440-495 MHz range, to begin auctioning Oct. 20;
the wireless local loop band in the 3.4-3.7 GHz range, to begin auctioning Oct. 20;
the multipoint multichannel distribution systems in the 2.50-2.69 GHz range, to begin auctioning Dec. 1;
point-to-point and point-to-multipoint microwave links in the 14.5-23.6 GHz range, to begin auctioning July 21.
The continuation of the Mexican auction-which paused in November after the auction of paging, point-to-point links and mobile aeronautical frequencies-was announced in an April 25 notice that defined the spectrum to be auctioned and included a simple, four-point registration procedure for those companies or individuals interested in bidding.
“CFT has entertained a wide range of formulas and procedures for the auctions [but] has not yet announced how it will proceed,” said Arturo Dessommes, a trade specialist with the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City. “The initial registration was intended to identify and gauge the interest level of investors and to garner additional data with which to structure the auctioning process.”
Dessommes characterized revenues generated by the first-ever 1996 Mexican auctions as below expectations but added, “interest [in the upcoming auctions] is expected to be greater, as the frequencies involved allow more services and higher income for the concessionaires.”
The Mexican telecommunications industry is growing at a rate seven times faster than the rest of the economy. The Mexican government, Dessommes noted, “has a goal to duplicate within four years the existing telephone lines, which currently stand at 9.2 million lines.”
More information about the auctions also has been posted on CFT’s Web site, located at http: www.cofetel.gob.mx/subasta_espectro.
