Mexico moves to free up 600MHz band for 5G

Mexico's telecom regulator IFT approved the migration of 48 TV channels operating on the 600MHz radio frequency to digital TV in order to free up the band for high-speed 5G mobile services.

The decision follows the reassignment of 700MHz in 2015, a process that opened up that band for the launch of the wholesale Red Compartida project that is expected to reach 30% of Mexico by the end of this month.

Despite migrating most of its analog TV transmissions to digital in 2015, IFT said 151 channels still operated on the 600MHz band, of which 103 had already migrated to digital or were in the process of doing so. The latest decision covers the remaining channels.

The decision makes Mexico the first country in the world to free up the spectrum, which covers the 614 to 698MHz band, IFT said in a press release.

IFT did not divulge a timeline for the process or say when it will put the 84MHz that will be made available after the reassignment of the band up for auction. The watchdog is currently in the process of auctioning the 2.5GHz band, for which it has received five declarations of interest.

Several other countries, including the US, Canada and New Zealand, have identified the 600MHz band as a candidate for offering 5G services, IFT said.