Four operators to bid for Colombian 4G spectrum, including WOM

News Wireless Colombia 4 DEC 2019
Four operators to bid for Colombian 4G spectrum, including WOM
A total of four companies will finally bid for multi-band spectrum in Colombia’s imminent tender, including the owner of Chilean mobile operator WOM (formerly Nextel Chile), reports local daily La Republica. Colombia's Ministry of Information Technology and Communications (Mintic) is currently evaluating the four bids submitted before awarding contracts for LTE spectrum in the 700MHz, 1.9GHz and 2.5GHz bands on 20 December.

The bidders include the country’s main operators Claro (America Movil), Movistar (Telefonica) and Tigo (Millicom) plus a fourth company called Partners, described as a vehicle for UK-based investment fund Novator, which acquired Nextel Chile and rebranded the company as WOM back in 2015. According to the report, WOM made an unsuccessful attempt to acquire Avantel Colombia in 2016.  

Mintic was due to hold the auction on 12 December but delayed it after revising the rules to include a reserve price, as requested by the operators, of COP 949 billion per 2x10MHz block and COP 475 billion per 2x5MHz in the 700MHz band, COP 228 billion per 2x2.5MHz block in the 1.9GHz band and COP 161 billion per 2x5MHz block in the 2.5GHz band. 

Categories:

Mobile

Companies:

America Movil,  Claro,  Millicom,  Movistar,  Tigo,  Telefonica,  WOM

Countries:

Colombia

Tags:

Government telecommunications licensing, Voice services, Data services, Wholesale, 4G - LTE

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