Mexico. The telecommunications regulator in Mexico, the Federal Institute of Telecommunications, IFT, recently approved the bases to tender 41 blocks of the radio spectrum to expand the coverage of mobile connectivity networks (telephony and internet). With this, the milestone of its tenth process of assigning this essential and invisible resource that is required for the transmission of our voice and data in wireless networks would be fulfilled.
The growing demand for connectivity throughout the country requires an incremental provision of frequencies assigned to the different mobile service providers in the country. This is how this auction process will increase the availability of spectrum in the 800 MHz, PCS, AWS and 2.5 GHz bands.
The concessions granted will include coverage obligations in underserved areas in localities in the states of Chiapas, Guerrero, Oaxaca and Veracruz, as well as the imposition of spectrum cap limits.
Spectral Tenure Prior to the IFT-10 Tender. According to the IFT, in its most recent report on International Mobile Telecommunications (IMT), at the end of 2020, the amount of spectrum in our country reached 700 MHz, which represents an increase 3.2 times higher than its levels prior to the Telecommunications Reform.
Since the establishment and start-up of ift management, the total spectrum allocation went from 222 MHz to 700 MHz, between 2014 and 2020. The auction of the AWS bands, the award of the 700 MHz band to the Shared Network, the tender for the 2.5 GHz band (taking into account the return of frequencies from Telefónica Movistar initiated in December 2019), as well as the reorganization of the 3.5 GHz band for the provision of fixed wireless internet have contributed significantly to this.
These processes already place Mexico in second place in the amount of spectrum allocated among the countries of Latin America and brings us closer as a country to the fulfillment of the constitutional mandate granted to the IFT of "promotion and supervision of the use, exploitation and exploitation of the radio spectrum" for the efficient development of telecommunications services in Mexico.
Addition of Frequencies after the IFT-10 Tender. From this frequency auction process, the national spectral holding is expected to increase to 720 MHz by the end of the year, which would represent an increase of 2.9%. The expectation on the part of the IFT is to reach in the medium term an allocation of 1,171 MHz, that is, more than five times above the initial level (222 MHz) when reaching its first decade of management in Mexico.
This would bring us closer to the milestone of the 1,720 MHz projected and recommended by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) for the year 2020, reaching 68.1% of this benchmark and would place Mexico in a better position at the regional level.
The set of these and other regulatory actions will not only increase the coverage and availability of telecommunications services in our country, but will also seek to optimize the provision of these by achieving conditions of affordability, quality, plurality and effective competition.
With this, the economic and social benefits of having and continuing to have a specialized and independent regulator for telecommunications in Mexico are again evident.
Text written by Ernesto Piedras of The Competitive Intelligence Unit, CIU.
