Argentine regulator to manage state telco Arsat's spectrum

Argentine communications watchdog Enacom will manage the mobile spectrum currently held by state-telco Arsat in the nationwide 700MHz and 1.7-2.1GHz bands, and regional frequencies in the 18GHz-1.9GHZ bands, according to a presidential decree published in the country's federal gazette.

The measure has immediate effect.

The move paves the way for the assigning of the frequencies to private carriers Personal, Movistar and Claro, according to the spectrum caps regulation, although some 20% of Arsat's frequencies would have to be earmarked for regional or local public or private ICT service providers.

A total of 130MHz would be made available, paired in five distinct blocks of spectrum, for mobile broadband services.

In July 2017 Enacom allocated spectrum in the 2,500-2,690MHz frequency range to Movistar, Claro and Personal.

According to 5G Americas, Argentina ended 2018 with 390MHz of spectrum allocated for mobile services, slightly above the region's average of 370MHz but still distant from Brazil and Mexico, which assigned 609MHz and 584MHz, respectively.

The International Telecoms Union (ITU) recommends allocating at least 1,960MHz of spectrum for mobile services as of 2020.