The minister of Industry, Energy and Mining (MIEM), Omar Paganini, appeared for almost three hours before the Industry Commission of the Senate, at the request of Broad Front (FA)to explain details of the auction of the 5G network, as well as the automatic renewal of the spectrum in the 4G network, in the midst of controversies in Uruguay for both processes.
5G continues to give the country something to talk about, and not for good news. While the claims of the telephone companies that would participate in the auction —or that demand to participate, as in the case of Dedicated-, The head of MIEM appeared before the legislators of the Upper House in what was a “deep exchange”, as he later expressed to the press.
Paganini was accompanied by the board of the Communications Services Regulatory Unit (Ursec)and responded to the concerns mainly of the Frente Amplista senators Liliam Kechichian, Silvia Nane and Alexander Sanchez, who promoted the call.
A 5G technology that does not take off
The administrative appeals filed against the 5G network auction —which was to be held on the 28th but was postponed to May 9 due to complications with the companies— was one of the central themes of the exhibition. In this regard, Paganini assured that “this happens with all auctions” and affirmed that the MIEM “is lifting the suspensive effects and responding to the appeals.”
“In some cases they object to the base price, which seems high to them; in another case there is a company that wants to participate and does not have the experience, but we are going to go ahead”, Paganini pointed out before the Industry Commission.
It should be remembered that Clear filed an administrative appeal against the specifications, mainly for the base price of each 100 MHz section, valued at 28 million dollars, as it has no “foundation”; and by the “competitive inequality” established by the allocation already made to before of its section in the 5G band, one of the first points observed by private parties.
In the case of Movistar —which, finally, did not present appeals but made its discontent with the auction public—, warned “with concern” that the current conditions “do not facilitate the deployment of 5G to private operators” and at the same time private operators “are not allowed to to contract fiber optics from the state operator”. “Nor are they encouraged to deploy their own networks, assigning them licenses to provide all the services that said network would technically make possible,” the company considered.
The case of Dedicated is different, which will search for legal way enter the auction since, according to the company, it was designed in such a way that the requirements to participate intentionally exclude national providers.
For the Broad Front, the bidding for the three blocks in the spectrum of the 5G network should put on hold as long as the conflicts with the companies that must carry out the deployment of this technology in the country are not resolved. At the moment, this is not an option for the government, which is already working with a delayed agenda.
4G, another headache for the Executive Power
The senators also asked for explanations regarding the controversy surrounding the automatic renewal of 4G spectrum licenses and, particularly, the price established for Movistar for the use of the 850 Mhz frequency band —with the addition that the director of the Ursec, Mercedes Aramendia, She was an employee of the telephone company. In this sense, a technical document from the regulatory body indicated at the time a “potential price” of 25 million dollars, but it ended up being renewed for just 6 million dollars.
However, Paganini affirmed that “this spectrum still has no price” because “the government never set it.” Likewise, he pointed out that the renewal of the Movistar band will take place “just next year” and that MIEM “has already asked Ursec to seek more information to define what could be a reasonable price for that spectrum”, something that will be determined “throughout the year”.
The responses from the head of Industry were not satisfactory to the opposition, which has already submitted several requests for reports in this regard.
Source: Ambito
