Translated from Spanish. Original.

August 31, 2018

Article published in ComentariosBlog.

The opinion of Enrique Carrier on the reassignment of the 450 MHz band for fixed wireless and mobile broadband

By Enrique Carrier *

This week, through Resolution 506/2018, the Ministry of Modernization reassigned the 450 MHz band for fixed wireless and mobile broadband, in a format that allows increasing bandwidth , although with certain limitations that will limit the service to small and medium operators of small towns in the interior of the country.

Until now, the primary use of this frequency was only for fixed wireless access, both for telephony and data and Internet (with very little bandwidth, which makes them almost unusable). At the moment, there are some deployments in 450 MHz with CDMA technology, used mainly to provide wireless voice services (as is the case of the “cotecalitos” in Calafate), services that were enabled in 2005. But they did not turn on too much due to its low capacity for data and the high costs of equipment.

The resolution redefines the primary use (adding the possibility of the mobile), although establishing certain limitations. On the one hand, the service must be provided outside the radius of 180 km of the City of Buenos Aires , in localities of less than 100 thousand inhabitants . On the other, it excludes large mobile operators(Of course, Movistar and Personal). In this way, it is clear that the target of this band will be the small and medium operators of the Interior, especially those operating in areas with scattered population, where the good reach of this band (reaches 20 km with LTE) is better than its width of maximum band (of 36 Mbps). For this reason, the zones will be assigned to a single operator , in order to ensure that it has all the available spectral capacity (which is modest). In areas where there is only one bidder, the band will be assigned free of charge. If there is more than one interested party, there will be a price check although there is no base price. In this way, it is sought that the spectrum is not an entry barrier for the development of new networks.

It is foreseeable that,at least initially, this band (known as 31) is used to provide fixed broadband access . The 36 Mbps it can offer is sufficient today but not so much for the prospects of the next few years. However, it is far better than what is available in many areas of the country. For mobile services, for now there seems to be no time. Currently, according to the GSA (Global Mobile Suppliers Association) there are 117 devices that operate in 450 MHz, compared to 3,113 in AWS or 1,211 in ATP (both are the current bands of LTE in use in Argentina). This difference in scales is reflected in the price of the terminals, a factor not less in the diffusion of the service. And considering also the limitations that imply not giving the service in the AMBA (where 1/3 of the population of the country lives) nor being available for the 3 large mobile operators, the scales will be low.

However, in the case of operators that have some other frequency, there is the possibility of doing Carrier Aggregation , combining the 450 MHz band with others to increase the total capacity.

The timing is not good. The strong depreciation of the peso in recent days significantly increases the dollar, by increasing the amount of pesos to be invested in a similar proportion, something that strongly impacts domestic operators. And the high dollar seems to have come to stay for a while, which will undoubtedly be an obstacle to the planned investments .

Thus, at the moment it seems more a gesture of goodwill on the part of the government towards the small and medium operators of the Interior who are demanding the possibility of actively participating in the mobile business. With this move, this possibility increases, but we are not yet on the eve of that happening. It’s just a first step.

(*) Enrique Carrier: Market analyst specialized in Internet, computing and telecommunications, with more than 20 years of experience in the technology sector. In addition, he is the editor of “Comentarios”, the weekly newsletter and blog of Carrier y Asociados.