Mexico Introduces Partial Area Licenses in their Next Spectrum Auction May 14, 2024 17:00
On May 7th, Mexico's Federal Institute of Telecommunications (IFT) announced a Public Consultation for their next spectrum auction. The consultation process will run for 20 days until 6/3/2024. In this consultation they have introduced a new licensing framework (APS) that makes spectrum available in much more regional areas. Prior to this realignment, most of the licenses were either national or issued on PCS or Cellular market areas which divided the country into roughly similar 9 regions.
Below are the Partial Area Markets are indicated along with the included municipios (counties).
| Name | Frequency Band | Proposed Configuration | Market |
| 600 MHz | 614-698 MHz | 5 blocks - 5x5 MHz | APS |
| 1 block - 10x10 MHz | National | ||
| L Band | 1427-1518 MHz | 8 blocks - 10MHz (TDD) | National |
| 2 blocks - 5 MHz (TDD) | Future | ||
| 800 MHz | 814-824/859-869 MHz | 2 blocks - 5x5 MHz | APS* |
| AWS | 1755-1760/2155-2160 MHz | 1 block - 5x5 MHz | APS |
| PCS | 1850-1915/1930-1995 MHz | 4 blocks - 5x5 MHz | APS |
| 1 block - .8x.8 MHz | APS* | ||
| 2.5 GHz | 2500-2690 MHz | 4 blocks - 10 MHz (TDD) | APS |
* APS or Partial Markets only apply to unlicensed markets.
These market changes and frequency band changes have been updated in our Mexico - Spectrum Ownership Analysis Tool and we have added a new APS Market Analysis module to aid in the bid evaluation process, so that existing spectrum holdings can be compiled for each frequency band and each band classification (low, lower mid, and upper mid). This is an important update for US carriers and manufacturers to purchase to understand the technology constraints along the US/Mexico border and to understand the networks and capacity that their customers will experience when traveling in Mexico.
APS (Partial Market) Analysis Module:
