Latin America. 5G Americas published its report Spectrum in Latin America and the Caribbean For 5G: Medium and High Bands. The document presents a review of radio spectrum frequencies for mobile services in medium and high ranges in Latin America and especially, of their prospects for the deployment of 5G.
The research shows that Latin American countries are still in the early stages of identifying medium and high bands for IMT-2020 (5G) technologies. Only Brazil, Colombia and Uruguay have identified the 26 GHz band for IMT (International Mobile Telecommunications) services at the Inter-American Telecommunications Commission (CITEL). Uruguay is the only country in the region reporting the launch of a 5G network using the 28 GHz band.
Several markets are awaiting decisions to be taken at the next World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC-19) — to be held in Egypt between October and November this year — to adapt their plans for the radio spectrum.
As for the medium bands, several countries have reserved the 2.3 GHz band, some of them even considering deadlines for its cleaning. A large number of Latin American countries have allocated this band for mobile services, but have not made tenders or allocations. In cases such as Peru, the band is considered licensed to operators who obtained it in previous transactions, but subject to reorganization.
The 2.5 GHz band, on the other hand, was largely intended for Pay-TV services, data transmission and Internet access, but for various reasons it is considered an underutilized portion of spectrum, although some operators have begun to deploy LTE networks.
Finally, the 3.5 GHz band — which in the past was intended for last-mile fixed wireless access — became underutilized in several markets and geographically fragmented, as its allocation was made with national and regional licenses. Therefore, it presents in some countries an additional complexity for its use in the context of the next mobile generation.
The report Spectrum in Latin America and the Caribbean For 5G: Medium and High Bands can be downloaded here.
