Uruguay calls for its tender for 5G services, the fourth carried out by a Latin American country

The Uruguayan State will tender next Friday, April 28, various sections of the 3.5 GHz bandso that the interested operators can count in the short term with frequencies that are more favorable to commercialize fifth generation services in the country.

Uruguay, through its Communications Services Regulatory Unit (Bear), will compete for three blocks of 100 MHz frequencies each one and with national coverage. One of the blocks has already been reserved for the state operator before.

The other two interested operators are Movistar of the Spanish group Telefónica and Clear of the Mexican holding América Móvil. Both companies have indicated disagreements with the process, so they do not rule out filing actions against what they consider to be advantages for Antel and prices that are outside the reality of the market.

The frequencies will have an exit cost of 28 million dollars in deferred terms and will be valid for 25 years, extendable for an additional equal term.

Uruguay In this way, it becomes the fourth country in Latin America to undertake a process to tender radioelectric spectrum for 5G services. The Dominican Republic, Brazil y Chile They have been the other Latin American countries that have already awarded frequencies for 5G.

Mexico has confirmed that it will start in the second half of 2023 its first tender for 5Gwhen competing in this process bands from the 600 MHzof 3.5 GHz and the L band. The contest of Mexico in the middle of the 2024.

The Ursec will receive the documentation and the guarantees of seriousness of the operators on April 13.

The operators that are winners in the bidding process will have up to one year to incorporate at least 70 5G base stations in the country and up to two more years to cover at least ten departments with at least two 5G base stations as well. The rest of coverage can be accredited with technology 4G-LTE.

Uruguay is a market with 3.5 million inhabitants, but with 6.02 million active cellular accesses in the first half of 2022.