AT&T and Telefonica pay 44,400 million for Mexican spectrum

Bids by telecommunications firms AT&T and Telefonica won 120 MHz of radioelectric spectrum in the 2500-2690 MHz frequency band that can be used for wireless services, Mexico’s telecommunications regulator, IFT , said on Monday.

The auction had drawn strong interest from operators because it is well-suited for broadband, 5g mobile networks and the so-called Internet of Things .

The companies “will have the 2.5 GHz spectrum , which will be used for broadband mobile services. Said spectrum will allow operators to offer better quality to the domestic telecommunications market,” said the IFT.

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AT&T will pay 1.4 billion pesos ($75.6 million) and Telefonica 700 million pesos ($37.8 million) in total for their respective winning bids, the IFT added.

“Telefonica has achieved its goal, obtaining the spectrum it needed ... to address the foreseeable increase in the demand for mobile data,” the company said in a statement.

“These results account for a 26.5% increase in the spectrum allocated for broadband mobile services in Mexico,” stated Mexico’s Federal Telecommunications Institute (IFT) . Both bidders offered the minimum reference value for each 20 Mhz block of 350 million pesos each .

According to the IFT, during the first phase, both participants offered 1,750 million pesos for five of all six blocks bidded and 350 million during the second phase .

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