Colombia's 5G Spectrum Auction
Colombia plans to award 400MHz of spectrum, divided into 12 blocks across 5 frequency bands, as part of its 5G auction, according to the draft rules and the general description of the process presented by the ICT Ministry (MinTIC).
The first draft was published on August 1st, and interested parties can submit comments until August 15th through the email subastaespectro@mintic.gov.co - mailto:subastaespectro@mintic.gov.co. The auction is scheduled for December 20th.
By way of comparison, Chile awarded 1.8GHz for mobile broadband in its 5G auction, and Brazil a record 3.7GHz, of which 85% had been awarded.
In total, Colombia will offer the following spectrum:
- 10MHz in the 700MHz band
- 10MHz in the 1.9GHz band
- 30MHz in the AWS extended band
- 30MHz in the 2.5GHz band
- 320MHz in the 3.5GHz band
The extended AWS band refers to the 1,755MHz-1,770MHz and 2,155MHz-2,170MHz ranges.
Additionally, the ICT Ministry announced plans for a second 5G auction in 2024, where it aims to offer 80MHz in the 3.5GHz band for providers that currently do not have mobile operation authorizations, targeting new entrants.