The US-based telecommunications company held a meeting with the Federal Telecommunications Institute (IFT) a month ago to discuss a third return of spectrum bands to achieve greater operational efficiencies.
“We are in Mexico in a context of return of spectrum and a brutally high entry barrier for who enters because it is a tax (the right and use of the radio spectrum)”, considers Aspe, without giving more details about the resignation of more bands. spectrum.
According to data from the IFT, the income from the use of the spectrum reported at the end of 2022, without considering the 700 MHz band used by Altán Redes, reached 18,272 million pesos. This represents a decrease of 9.7%, compared to the 20,237 million pesos registered in 2019, the year in which Telefónica began to return its spectrum.
Consulting firm The Ciu has indicated that the cost of the spectrum implies an expense of between 22% and 30%, as a percentage of annual income, for telecommunications operators. This high cost has become a limitation to meet its objective of increasing its presence in the country and offering connectivity services.
“The deployment of 5G is having very important global challenges that have to do with its financial sustainability. In the case of Mexico, we have additional barriers such as high spectrum costs that slow deployment and make a business case more difficult,” Aspe said. “But if you lower the cost of the spectrum automatically, more equipment is bought for the network and it starts to grow because there is a competition issue where we have a very clear interest in deploying,” he added.
5G use case project developments have become a first response for AT&T to drive adoption of the new technology so that it becomes financially viable. For this reason, the company achieved an alliance with Endeavor to promote the development of use cases with 5G. The first three projects to win focus on the logistics industry, academia and health. Each project will receive a matching fund of up to $100,000, among other benefits, and it is expected that they will become a reality in one year.