Mexico, US discuss spectrum usage along border

Mexican and US telecoms officials held a meeting last week at the headquarters of Mexican sector regulator IFT to discuss shared usage of spectrum along the two nations' 3,169km shared border.

The IFT said in a statement that the meeting included US officials from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) and State Department, as well as representatives of the IFT, foreign ministry and national telecoms investment promotion vehicle Promtel on the Mexican side.

During the meeting "proposals were reviewed to facilitate present and future operation of radiocommunications systems along the common border, in particular prevention ... of harmful interference," the IFT said.

The meeting also served to discuss shared usage of the spectrum in the 600MHz, 700MHz, 800MHz and 2.5GHz bands along the border. Mexico has allocated the 700MHz band to the Red Compartida wholesale network and has also announced the repurposing of the 600MHz band, currently in use by TV broadcasters, for high-speed mobile internet services. It is also in the process of auctioning off a block of spectrum in the 2.5GHz band for mobile connectivity.