Victor Martinez, Technical Office Manager of Conatel of Paraguay, explained that companies operating in the country, as well as foreign companies that want to enter the telephony or internet sector, will be able to bid.
The National Telecommunications Commission of Paraguay (Conatel) announced that, as of today, it is putting up for public consultation on its institutional website the draft of the “General Terms and Conditions for the granting of a license for the provision of Cellular Mobile Telephone Services and Internet Access and Data Transmission in the 3,500 MHz frequency band, and the obligations for its operation and exploitation.”
This marks the first step towards the implementation of 5G coverage - the fifth generation of wireless network technology in the country, which will improve data transmission speed. There are eight frequency sub-bands in the 3,500 MHz band that can be awarded.
Victor Martinez, manager of the Technical Office of Conatel, explained that companies operating in the country, as well as foreign companies that want to enter the telephony or internet sector, will be able to bid.
He explained that there is room for four companies (two sub-bands for each) in the sub-bands that will be put out to tender.
“All companies have the opportunity to compete in this process. It is open. Local companies are probably the ones that will have the greatest interest, because they are already operating in the Paraguayan market. But this is open. We will see if we can capture the interest of other national companies that are not traditionally mobile phone operators or international companies. We will see what the process brings us,” he said.
WHEN WILL THE BIDDING TAKE PLACE?
Martínez explained that the idea is that after the public consultation process the results will be consolidated and that in the first days of January the board will approve the call for tenders.
“We want to make the call around January 7 or 8. That takes us a period of 30 days for the interested parties to present the documentation. There is an evaluation process. The possibility is that an auction will be held for the sub-bands. And we believe that at the end of February and beginning of March we will be awarding, or rather, granting, the licenses. And well, from that point on, we will award the licenses six months later,” he explained.
With the start of the public consultation, Conatel opens a stage of socialization of the General Terms and Conditions Document linked to the tender to assign 3,500 MHz frequency bands for services with fifth generation 5G mobile telecommunications systems, seeking to take the opinions of citizens to get even closer to their needs and expectations.
