Latin America. 5G Americas announced its report "State of the radio spectrum bands in Latin America: 600 MHz, 700 MHz, 2,300 MHz, 2,500 MHz and 3,500 MHz", which provides a regional overview of the strategic radio spectrum bands for the development of mobile technologies.
The document indicates that there are bands such as 700 MHz and 2.5 GHz that are already in use in several countries and that have an ecosystem of devices, but that remain untapped in several markets in Latin America. In these cases it is necessary to plan their allocation to enhance mobile broadband services, particularly LTE networks (marketed as 4G, 4.5G or 4G+).
Several regulators are contemplating spectrum for the future, particularly 600 MHz, 2.3 GHz and 3.5 GHz that will allow the development of the 4G environment and lay some of the foundations of 5G. However, although several administrations are identifying these new spectrum bands, there are portions that are in use by other services and systems. In this way, it is important that spectrum plans are generated that detail the clearance or release times of the bands and deadlines that allow us to know when they could be assigned for mobile services.
The report reviews past bidding processes and recommends that new spectrum tenders avoid past mistakes, such as high spectrum prices or unreasonable obligations tied to concessions. National administrations should ensure mobile industry access to licences in these bands at appropriate times and with conditions and prices that allow for the necessary industry investments.
New spectrum and 5G
In particular, the 600 MHz and 3.5 GHz bands are proposed (depending on the market) as pioneering 5G bands and have begun to be identified by several governments as new capacity for mobile networks, but require planning and reorganization to be exploited.
In the case of the 600 MHz band, it is known as the "second digital dividend" and it is required to complete processes of blackout of analog television signals and transition to digital terrestrial television. The 3.5 GHz band is underutilized in several countries as it was allocated to other services that were not fully developed, such as wireless access. The 3.5 GHz band tends to be partially occupied in Latin America and there is a high fragmentation because it has been assigned to several companies in different regions within each country. There is a challenge of reorganizing that spectrum to plan its use.
The 2.3 GHz band should be harnessed as soon as possible. Several countries have attributed it to the mobile service, but it has not been licensed (Peru and Brazil plan to tender it soon). This band can already give additional capacity to 4G networks given that there are compatible equipment and it is crucial to allow its use. In addition, the 2.5 and 3.5 GHz bands will be important for the digitization of the region, since their capacity and potential dynamic use can turn them into bands to detonate 5G.
The report "State of the radio spectrum bands in Latin America: 600 MHz, 700 MHz, 2,300 MHz, 2,500 MHz and 3,500 MHz" can be downloaded here.
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