Mobile broadband demand in Brazil forces early spectrum auction
Tuesday 30 June 2009 | Comment |
In the race to be able to offer a decent broadband connection to everyone in Britain, the reallocation of the country's broadcast spectrum has been a hot topic. Decisions have finally been made on how the spectrum will be allocated when the switch to digital completes in 2012 and frees up more broadcast space; but the UK is not the only place where mobile broadband spectrum has become a contentious issue.
Brazil's telecoms secretary announced last week that the country would hold an auction for mobile broadband spectrum as early as next year, as a result of demand for the services exceeding capacity. However, allocation of broadcast spectrum is not straightforward anywhere, it seems - the country has planned to auction the 2.5GHz WiMAX spectrum for some time, but this has been held up by regulatory disputes.
The Brazilian government is keen to be able to provide better mobile broadband capacity in urban areas - unlike our government, which is wrestling with the issue of rural areas - but no confirmation was offered on whether the auction would require a commitment to WiMAX or 3G/LTE, or whether it would be technologically neutral.
