Movistar, Movilnet win 1900MHz spectrum

Venezuela’s two largest cellcos Movilnet and Movistar have won an auction for blocks of wireless frequencies in the 1900MHz band, reports BNamericas quoting telecoms regulator Conatel. Movilnet, a unit of fixed line incumbent CANTV, was awarded spectrum block ‘B-B’, while Movistar, owned by Spanish telecoms giant Telefonica, received spectrum block ‘A-A’. Key bid criteria included quality of service, coverage, rollout schedule and the value of the bid. Movistar and Movilnet must make a 50% down payment on licence fees on 5 November and Conatel expects to formally issue the spectrum on 28 November. The country’s third nationwide mobile network operator, Digitel, also participated in the auction but did not win any spectrum, although Conatel plans to auction more mobile frequencies ‘in the short term’. It recently announced that frequency blocks in the 1710MHz-1770MHz, 1805MHz-1910MHz, 1930MHz-1990MHz and 2110MHz-2170MHz bands will be issued.