When we talk about advances in the telecommunications industry within Latin America, the most usual thing is that Colombia don’t steal the headlines. In fact, sometimes they make progress that seems to belong to another time. But it has just done so thanks to the fact that they have released the 6GHz band for unlicensed services.
This may sound like something confusing or inconsequential for everyday users of telecommunications services, such as through mobile or landline telephone networks or connections Wifi to Internet.
But the reality is that this release would imply an important leap that would open up an interesting range of possibilities for any citizen who, for example, is reading this news through an electronic and digital medium.
Although to delve a little into it, it is necessary to address a basic principle on which telecommunications companies and services work practically throughout the planet.
The spectrum, the frequency bands and the airspace, like the land that delimits the territory of a nation, is the property of each country and the government in turn is responsible for establishing the regulatory guidelines.
This is how, for example, in Mexico, there is the Federal Institute of Telecommunications (IFT) which is in charge of regulating all the processes to grant said bands and spectrums to mobile operators and the like to offer their services.
Colombia announces the release of the 6GHz band: what this implies
According to a report from bnamericas The Colombian government has announced its decision to allocate the entire 6 GHz frequency band, ranging from 5.925 to 7.125 MHz, for license-free use by technologies such as WiFi 6E indoors.
With this measure, Internet service providers (ISPs) will be able to increase and improve their connection capacity, stability and speed of the service, which obviously translates into multiple benefits for users.
The best of all this is that now a license is not needed, so it would be possible to access high connectivity services from homes, companies, educational institutions and airports. This is how the ICT minister, Sandra Milena Urrutia Pérez, explains it for change colombia:
“It is hoped that by making the 6 GHz band available for free use, innovation will be encouraged. The capacities and speeds will be higher and with them it will be possible to meet the growing demand for data, content and applications from users.
As well as reaching remote regions of the country with quality solutions for rural areas. In this way, the government of change advances in closing the digital divide and in a true democratization of ICT”.
Similarly, an auction of the 5G band and spectrum renewals are planned. With which Colombia opens the ground for a new stage in the history of its telecommunications.