Seven prequalified companies have confirmed to Costa Rica’s regulator Sutel their participation in the 5G spectrum auction in Costa Rica, which will take place this month.
In phase one of the tender, operators Claro and Liberty will bid for spectrum for 5G at the national level. In phase two, the other five companies – Coopealfaroruiz, Coopeguanacaste, Coopelesca, Coopesantos and Ring Centrales de Costa Rica – will bid for frequencies at the regional level.
The spectrum bands that will be made available include the 700MHz, 2.3GHz, 3.5GHz, 26GHz and 28GHz bands.
All companies involved have accepted the basic prices of the spectrum and the infrastructure units they will be required to deploy after being informed of these conditions on 17 December last year.
Sutel says that today, 13 January, sees the start of training of any representatives chosen by the operators to familiarise them with the software they will use in the auction, software that, Sutel says, offers satisfactory levels of security, transparency and trust, and fits in with the specific requirements of the auction.
The national 5G auction, involving Liberty and Claro, will be held on 23 January 2025, while the regional tender will be held on 24 January.
The funds raised will be channelled into the development of programmes by the country’s National Telecommunications Fund, to finance access to telephony and internet among vulnerable populations.
It could take up to 25 days for Sutel to make its formal recommendations for the award of frequencies to the Ministry of Science, Innovation, Technology and Telecommunications.
In October last year we reported that Sutel had restarted the country’s 5G spectrum auction process after objections from Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad (Grupo ICE), the Costa Rican government-run electricity and telecommunications services provider, were either dealt with or dismissed.
