Spanish telecoms giant Telefonica has been confirmed as the highest bidder in the Mexican government’s auctions for spectrum in the 1900MHz spectrum band, according to Bloomberg. Telefonica, Grupo Iusacell and a joint venture between NII Holdings and local media giant Grupo Televisa submitted the highest bids in the sale, the Comision Federal de Telecomunicaciones (Cofetel) revealed, and the regulator now has 30 days to review the auction and officially declare the winners.
Telefonica bid MXN2.76 billion (USD213 million) for 30MHz of spectrum in the Mexico City area, the highest amount of any bidders for the capital, while it also committed a further MXN100 million for additional frequencies in other areas of the country; in total the company will grab 14 10MHz blocks of spectrum. Iusacell meanwhile submitted the highest bids for blocks of spectrum in most other areas of the country; offering a total of MXN65.4 million for nine 10MHz blocks, while the NII/Televisa pairing will spend MXN48.3 million on one 10MHz block. While Mexico City-based America Movil, parent company of Mexico’s largest mobile network operator by subscribers Telcel, qualified to participate in the auction, it failed to place a winning bid.
A separate auction for 90MHz of airwaves in the 1700MHz band is still ongoing.