Convergencia Research, Consultoría especializada en Latinoamérica y Caribe
Tuesday, September 05, 2017

Argentina Spectrum Map 2017

Refarming changed the organization of the market in mobile telephony. The Government plans to continue to increase the Spectrum Cap.

Argentina Spectrum Map 2017 - Credit: © 2017 Grupo Convergencia
Argentina Spectrum Map 2017 - Credit: © 2017 Grupo Convergencia

During the first half of 2017, some definitions demanded by the sector began to appear, with refarming and direct allocation of frequencies. Resolutions 1033 and 1034 reconfigured the map by assigning the Advanced Mobile Communications Service (SCMA) to the bands between 905 and 915 MHz, 950 and 960 MHz and 2500 and 2690 MHz. Resolution 3687 determined how the batches of the last band and the 5478 assigned to Telefónica the frequencies included in Lot A, América Móvil Lot B and Telecom Personal Lot C

Resolution 1299 approved the Project of Refarming with Economic Compensation and Frequency Sharing to Nextel to provide the SCMA Service in the frequencies between 905 to 915 MHz and 950 to 960 MHz, to use channels 7 to 10 and the corresponding ones channels 7 'to 10' in FDD mode, frequencies from 2550 MHz to 2560 MHz and 2670 MHz to 2680 MHz exclusively to migrate users of pre-existing services there for a period of two years.

Also known was an agreement reached by Intercable Network for its partners to operate directly or as MVN on the bands of 900 Mhz and 2.5 GHz that are in the hands of Nextel-Cablevisión. But the merger between Cablevisión and Telecom leaves questions about these negotiations. However, it puts pressure on Telefónica and Claro to adopt policies aimed at opening up their networks to SMEs.

The Government would prefer to encourage companies to opt for the OMV model. The rearrangement of operators - now only three - left the request for direct allocation of frequencies of the cameras that nucleate SMEs and cooperatives - Catel, Cabase and Cacpy. They request to operate in 700 MHz, 900 MHz and 2,600 MHz to become the fourth operator or, in any case, several local and / or niche operators. And the authorities do not plan to meet that demand any more than with the 450 MHz band (allocated more than a five-year fixed-mobile to CDMA).

Before the liquidation of the Ministry of Communications, Oscar Aguad, had promised to increase the cap of spectrum, something that was not put into practice so that the new merged company would go overboard. Currently, the cap for each licensee is 140 MHz for each locality or area of ??exploitation.

Aguad proposed to increase that barrier to 180 MHz and left open the possibility of increasing that cap in the short term. But the operators are pushing for the current limits to be maintained until the Defense of Competition decides on the merger. At the same time, the three mobile operators are still claiming for unreleased spectrum in the 700 MHz band in major urban areas of the country.

Nextel has approximately 50 MHz of trunking spectrum at 800 MHz and 80 MHz with frequencies at 900 MHz and 2.5 GHz. From this spectrum, Nextel should return 20 MHz that can be exchanged for the 20 MHz in the 700 MHz band which lost Arlink (Group One, Vila-Manzano) that are judicialized. Lot 1 and 1 'in the bands between 703 and 803 MHz, Lot 1 between 1745 and 1755 MHz and Lot 1' between 2145 and 2155 MHz.

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