Colombia finishes assigning 2.5GHz spectrum permits

Colombia has finished assigning all permits for the use of spectrum in the 2.5GHz band acquired by operators in an auction held last December, ICT ministry MinTIC said in a statement.

In the auction, América Móvil’s Claro snapped up three blocks of spectrum and newcomer Novator Partners acquired two. 

Claro said it has already put into operation all the spectrum it acquired for its nationwide network. As a result, the company has doubled the amount of spectrum it has in the 2.5GHz band, allowing the company to double the speed offered to clients, said ICT minister TIC Karen Abudinen.  

However, the company told the ministry all its users should be able to experience improvements of between 20% and 35% in their contracted speeds. 

4G is growing fast in Colombia. According to the government, last year saw the largest annual jump in new 4G lines, with the addition of 5.22mn connections to almost 21mn. Claro led the mobile market with 47% of all the 66.3mn lines in service at end-2019.

Colombia’s 2.5GHz auction was one the last spectrum auctions held in Latin America before several of the bidding processes were hampered by the COVID-19 pandemic. The government has collected over US$2bn from awarding spectrum in the 700MHz and 2.5GHz bands.

Among the tenders planned, Colombia expects to award 3.5GHz spectrum for 5G later this year or early in 2021.