The first spectrum auction For the development of productive applications that invigorate the Mexican industrial plant, it would have 200 Megahertz of frequencies, to be distributed between regional and local size coverage; including, through very focused accesses such as industrial parks, stadiums and mining, energy or logistics projects.
The Telecommunications Regulatory Commission (CRT), the entity that directs this plan, would also study the allocation of spectrum in another radio band, such as that of 600 MHz and in addition to the frequencies already considered in 2.3 and 3.5 GHz, only at the request of those interested in this process and if these expressions of interest do not clash with the other two spectrum tenders for rural and mass consumption 5G coverage that the regulator is also preparing.
The interest of the CRT is in improving the already automated production processes of the economy and in automating others in economic sectors such as manufacturing, with the support of cellular networks and new technologies such as the Internet of Things and cloud services of an industrial nature, so that in turn new economies are also detonated in the country and Mexico’s GDP grows.
Therefore, on the first day of dialogues with industrialists interested in the bidding for production processes, the CRT He said that he has 100 Megahertz available in the 2.3 Gigahertz band and another hundred in the 3.5 GHz band to deliver to bidders who are interested in offering telecommunications solutions to third-party companies and with the spectrum as a basic input for their basket of products with which they will one day go to market.
The CRT would thus go with two models of spectrum allocation: One for the self-provision of services and another for the commercial provision of very specific services. The frequency assignment models will be defined after the dialogue and feedback tables with the industry.
Regarding coverage, the authority recognized that there would be greater attractiveness in the assignment of regional-sized lots, of which the country has nine regions; but that the opportunities for bidding would be maximized even more, if the awards are also considered through assignments by Basic Service Area (ABS), of which there are 65 in Mexico, and 320 Partial Service Areas (APS), as the most fractional division of the Mexican territory in telecommunications.
CRT then took up from the IFT the proposal to subdivide Mexico into 320 Partial Service Areas, an authority that then thought that with the APS the competition and concurrence of new companies in the mobile market would be encouraged, thus making prices and Internet access more competitive, also for providers of productive applications.
With the existence of a Partial Service Areaan operator with less financial power could serve a territory, for example, one or two municipalities and exploit sufficient radio spectrum for that size of coverage. The operator or consortium would also pay a lower tax burden for its frequencies and their bandwidth could be between 5 and 10 MHz, sufficient to provide a decent mobile internet service for those locations; or to configure cellular networks for industrial processes.
In this way, bidders would have greater room for maneuver to buy radio bands where it makes the most sense for their business plan, such as, for example, a concession at the APS level to develop a dedicated network for a logistics port in the south of the country and a concession to radiate over an industrial estate in Bajío.
“From what could be interesting for industrial services, there is also the possibility of assigning spectrum for polygons; all depending on special cases (…) It is a whole combination of factors that can lead us to a conjugation,” said the general director of Regulatory Policy of the CRT, Ricardo Castañeda.
On the first day of dialogue regarding this auction, a representative of the satellite industry asked the CRT to argue how a spectrum auction aimed at the productive sector could be attractive when the country is suffering from a strong crisis of social insecurity that also impacts telecommunications networks in very particular regions and on road systems throughout the country, mainly affecting the transportation, logistics and manufacturing sectors.
Although, the authority said that it will work on thorny issues like this to remove uncertainty and achieve success for what will be its first auction as a regulator, the National Telecommunications Association (Anatel) accused that the uncertainty in the sector regarding the deployment of infrastructure was unleashed by another regulator who on this occasion did not sit at the table for the dialogue of the 5G industrial auction:
“Everyone can play a role, but the regulator that is in charge of this very serious problem in the country is not there. The Ministry of Communications, Infrastructure, and Transportation has not collaborated over the years. It must be said: With rights of way and with facilitating installation at highway points, so that there is that infrastructure (…) In addition, there are some points of conflict with local communities and the issue is becoming more complex,” declared Gabriel Szekely, leader of Anatel.
