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Colombia ready to start bidding process over 700 MHz and 1900 MHZ spectrum frequencies and 5G adoption

According to the action plan launched by the Colombian government at the end of this year the public bidding for 700 MHz and 1900 MHz spectrum frequencies. 

On April 1st, 2019 the Ministry of Information and Communication Technologies, and the National Spectrum Agency published two documents that set the path  for a connectivity and internet networks within the country.

Ministry of ICT launched its action plan regarding the public bidding process of allocations of 700 MHz and 1900 MHz spectrum frequencies. The National Government has expressed its interest in promoting the assignment of 700 MHz band, particularly, in order to accomplish more easily a wider coverage and bring quality connectivity to rural areas using TV White Spaces.

According to the Action Plan, this trimester the entity will publish the invitation to tender for those who might be interested to participate. It is expected that within the third trimester the draft resolution of the public bidding will be published for comments. Once the commentary phase its over, the entity will emit the final version of the resolution which opens the bidding process of spectrum allocation. This is great news for investors and telecommunication companies because it’s the first step towards the adoption of 5g networks in Colombia. The bidding of these frequencies was suspended since 2014.

The National Spectrum Agency also emitted a public document regarding the frequency bands for 5G adoption. With this document, the Agency pretends to sum up different actors in order to build a solid roadmap to adopt 5G in Colombia. Some of the questions included in the document open to commentaries seek to stablish which frequency bands must be prioritized, which must be the incentives to facilitate the adequate adoption of 5G and what would be the impact of adopting 5G technology in Colombia.    

We should take advantage of this incredible investment opportunity that has presented itself in Colombia because it reflects the country’s technological growth. In this respect, we encourage all of the CMS community to consider the possibility of being a part of this public bidding and the construction of the draft documents which must likely result in an increased economical involvement in the country.

Authors

Portrait ofLorenzo Villegas-Carrasquilla
Lorenzo Villegas-Carrasquilla
Partner
Bogotá
Alejandra Soler