Jamaica expects to award WiMax licenses in the 2.5GHz band over the next 3-4 months, Ernest Smith, managing director of the country's Spectrum Management Authority (SMA) told BNamericas.
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The SMA is looking to receive approval from the government cabinet to auction the spectrum on Monday (May 12), Smith said, confirming declarations made by the energy, mining and telecommunications minister Clive Mullings.
Smith said that while the government does not specify the wireless technology that telcos should use, they have WiMax in mind.
The SMA requested use of the 2.5GHz band due to appeals by operators that have been carrying out tests with WiMax and because of recommendations made by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) at a conference in Geneva in October.
"One of the government's policies is to deploy ubiquitous broadband services throughout Jamaica. Currently we have very limited access to broadband services, so we have been devising different strategies to change that. We see it [the 2.5GHz band licenses] as an opportunity to achieve that policy objective," Smith said.
The executive would not give details on how many or what size the spectrum blocks would be.
Smith said that the government has also set aside spectrum for 3G auctions at a later date.
"A lot of work has been done by the WiMax Forum and the manufacturers of WiMax technology, and we have done several trials and they've proven favorable in terms of the operation of WiMax in that band...we feel confident that it is an appropriate band for Jamaica in terms of terrain, etc," Smith said.
Jamaica's main mobile operators are Digicel and Cable & Wireless. Digicel has previously mentioned that it is looking at the possibility of investing in WiMax technology.
