Colombia’s ICT ministry, MinTIC Colombia, has indicated that it is planning to publish a draft decree for public consultation on issues relating to spectrum and next-generation technology.
The decree addresses updating spectrum caps and enabling frequency allocation, with the aim of encouraging the development of 5G.
According to the bnamericas news website, the country’s telecommunications minister, Carmen Ligia Valderrama, recently said that plans involve increasing the caps for the bands below 3GHz and adding a category for bands between 3GHz and 6GHz.
The minister suggested that Colombia could license about 400MHz in the 3.5GHz band.
The present spectrum cap, dating back to 2015, is 45MHz in low bands and 90MHz in high bands. However as long ago as May, the ministry proposed raising the ceiling in low bands (698MHz-960MHz) to 50MHz, and to establish a 95MHz cap in medium bands (1.710GHz-2.690GHz). An 80MHz cap was proposed for what are called upper-medium bands (3.3GHz-3.7GHz).
On 5G, however, there appear to be mixed messages. The hope is that present consultations will put the country in a better position to manage 5G technology – but an actual 5G tender will apparently not be launched for now.
That said, it would appear that the country’s spectrum agency, ANE, alongside the government, is planning to publish a study relating to 5G testing, though it is not clear when this will appear. Nevertheless, the ministry has encouraged participation in the consultation to achieve what it hopes will be a broad consensus.
