5G can wait, 4G is the priority for Colombia

Colombia's will seek to consolidate 4G in the country before looking to auction 5G spectrum, the country's ICT minister (Mintic), Syliva Constaín, told BNamericas.

Speaking on the sidelines of Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Constaín said that the country needs more robust last mile connectivity, especially in rural areas, and that will be the focus of the country for the moment.

Mintic will aim to auction the 700MHz and 1.9MHz bands. Latin American countries have been looking at the 3.5GHz and 28GHz bands for 5G.

The comments come from a conference where 5G and the timing for the technology rollout in different regions have been one of the main topics of discussion. In Latin America 5G is not expected to be commercially widespread until after 2022.

But according to Constaín, Mintic believes there are other priorities for the moment.

Mintic is waiting for the approval of an ICT reform bill it sent to congress in September last year. Congress is due to meet on March 16 after the parliamentary recess.

"If it were my decision they would approve it on March 16. We're hopeful that congress will see how important this reform is to reduce the digital divide in the country," the minister said.

Integral to the reform is the simplification of the regulatory framework by merging the telecom and TV regulators CRC and ANTV, as well as more favorable terms for spectrum concessionaires.

Concession licenses would be extended to 20 years from 10 years and the government would move away from the idea of maximizing income from spectrum licenses to prioritizing coverage and other initiatives designed to reduce the digital divide.

These changes, the government hopes, will help reverse a declining trend in investment in telecoms infrastructure.

Constaín said that investment in ICT had fallen 33% since 2014 to 0.80% of GDP, which was largely to do with a "dispersed" regulatory environment.

In addition, a 4.7tn-peso (US$1.55bn) fine slapped on Claro and Movistar as part of an asset reversion trial, as well as asymmetrical interconnection rates imposed on dominant operator Claro, have discouraged operators from further investments.

In terms of spectrum, Colombia has dragged its heels in auctioning the 700MHz band and is behind other countries in terms of the amount of spectrum that has been auctioned.

Over the last eight years, under the Vive Digital plan Colombia went from 2.6mn broadband connections in 2010 to 30.2mn in 2018.

However, it has been insufficient. While connectivity has reached all of the country, in rural regions this is mostly via Wi-Fi hotspots and connectivity kiosks and there is a lack of last mile infrastructure.

Mobile broadband penetration is only 45.5% compared to 80.5% in Argentina and 69% in Chile, while fixed broadband penetration is 12.2% compared to16.5% in Argentina and 42.7% in countries like France.

Only 13.1mn of broadband connections in Colombia are considered to have "effective" speeds, Constaín said. Colombia's average fixed broadband speed is 5.5Mbps, half the global average of 10.2Mbps.

To improve the last mile reach, earlier this month, Mintic said it was seeking expressions of interest from bidders for spectrum in the E band (71-76GHz and 81-86GHz) for 4G communication.