Colombia announces winners of ‘historic’ 5G auction

Colombia held its first-ever 5G auction on Wednesday, awarding concessions to Claro, Telecall Colombia S.A.S., WOM and Union Temporal Colombia Movil-Telefonica. The auction raised more than 1.5 trillion pesos ($381 million), and is expected to attract investment of 28 trillion pesos ($7.11 billion) over the next decade. The frequencies up for auction included 700 megahertz (MHz), 1,900 MHz, 2,500 MHz and 3,500 MHz, as well as others in the extended AWS band of frequencies, which range from 1,700 MHz to 2,100 MHz. Colombia closed 2022 with some 80 million mobile subscribers, largely on contracts with America Movil’s Claro. Other leading operators include Colombia Telecomunicaciones, a local unit of Spain’s Telefonica, Colombia Movil’s Tigo and WOM, owned by Icelandic billionaire Thor Bjorgolfsson. Brazil’s Telecall is also set to enter the Colombian market through Wednesday’s auction.

Link to the original story: https://www.thestar.com.my/tech/tech-news/2023/12/21/colombia-announces-winners-in-039historic039-5g-data-services-auction