Mexico this week completed the public consultation for January’s 4G auction and confirmed it will use the combinatorial clock auction (CCA) format for the first time.
In a statement, the Federal Telecommunications Institute (IFT) noted that CCA auctions allow it to divide the frequencies into lots, enabling participants to bid on different packages of spectrum. CCA has been used successfully in Australia, Canada, and in several European markets, the regulator said.
The IFT said it will also reorganise the AWS band to ensure that winning bidders receive the largest possible amount of contiguous spectrum.
&qu ot;This will maximise the efficient use of the spectrum and therefore provide better services to the end users," the IFT said, in a statement on Thursday.
Mexico plans to sell 30 MHz of AWS-1 spectrum (1710-1725 MHz/2110-2125 MHz) and 50 MHz of AWS-3 spectrum (1755-1780 MHz/2155-2180 MHz) for the provision of LTE services. Selling off 80 MHz of AWS spectrum will increase the total amount of bandwidth allocated to mobile services by 33%, the IFT said.
The auction will be open to existing mobile operators as well as new players.
The IFT said it will publish the full details of the auction process and invite expressions of interest "in the coming days".
