The minister of Industry, Energy and Mining (MIEM), Omar Paganini, responded to the criticisms and questions of the telephone companies involved in the bidding process for the laying and use of the 5G network in Uruguay; and defended the decisions of the government.
The auction for the blocks in the spectrum of the 5G network continues to generate new chapters in the controversy just days after, finally —and, until now—, the bidding is carried out; even despite the intention of various sectors that it be suspended until all the issues mentioned are not properly resolved.
In this context, the head of the MIEM, together with the president of the Communication Services Regulatory Unit (Ursec), Mercedes Aramendia, appeared in front of the Industry, Energy, Commerce, Tourism and Services Commission to give explanations on the points that still arouse disagreements with private actors.
In principle, and as it became known with the publication of the official decree, the 5G auction will be in three 100 MHz blocks in the 3.5 GHz band —medium band—, and has the particularity that one of the blocks is already reserved for Antel. Likewise, the date was extended until May 9 when, originally, it would be April 28, due to “operational problems related to the holidays that this stage has”, according to Paganini explained in Parliament.
Requirements and resources of Claro and Movistar
So far, and as expected, the only two companies that have purchased the terms and conditions —one of the steps required to participate in the competitive process— were Movistar and Clear. However, both companies appealed the decree of the Executive Power, prior to the presentation of the minister before the commission. Mainly, both companies claim for the requirements demanded for the bidding, which they consider unjustified and limiting for the deployment and development of the network.
About him base priceset at 28 million dollars, Paganini maintained that the mechanism used was the request to Ursec for an indicative value of the international market price and then “understand that in Uruguay it is worth a little more”. Along these lines, he mentioned the history of Chili, that taking it would have led to setting the base price at 50 million dollars, but the analysis of the regulatory unit, which took 27 countries, led to the international market reference price being 22 million dollars.
In turn, on the question of why the millimeter bands, which would also allow these services, were not auctioned, he explained that the 5G model is not “mature.” For his part, Aramendía pointed out that in Brazil After the auction there were cases where the millimeter bands were returned and that in Spain, when the 26 GHz frequency was auctioned, only 20% of the available blocks were auctioned. “If a public tender is made to fix routes 8, 9, 10 and 11, do I have to bid all of them at the same time? It is clear that the answer is no,” said the official.
Regarding Antel’s participation by default, which led companies to criticize for unequal competition, Paganini pointed out that this assignment prior to the auction “has happened many times”, where “it is true that there is a position that gives it some competitive advantage to Antel, but it is also true that if Antel participates in the bid choosing first —as happens with the auction procedure—, because it has financial capacity, this greater financial capacity that Antel has is objected to as judge and party, because at After all, it is the State box, after all, it is the State itself. So, historically, the decision has been made that so that there is no problem that Antel can artificially raise the price for others and they complain about a somewhat asymmetrical position due to their financial capacityhe is made to choose first and pay the average”.
Dedicated and “discrimination”
About the local company Dedicated, appealed the decree because, according to its presentation, the conditions “discriminate” and deliberately exclude national companies, the head of MIEM pointed out that the demand for experience providing mobile telephony services was included so that “whoever acquires the band does not just be someone who has the financial capability to acquire it and then go out and see how the service develops, but secure it to someone who has the experience and the necessary credentials, as is often the case in many procedures for granting State concessions or public tenders”.
“It should be noted that being a cell phone operator in Uruguay is not just saying: ‘I can transmit some things; I can install certain equipment’. It is having financial capacity, customer service capacity, the ability to provide technical assistance, attention to claims, etc., and, above all, to expand to a reasonable volume of clients that makes it sustainable, ”he added.
In this sense, Paganini pointed out that Dedicated “not a mobile phone company”, but that it is “a company that is providing a point-to-point, fixed Internet service and that has more or less 9,500 clients in Uruguay.” “Let’s just think of the hundreds of thousands of customers that the existing operators have,” he stressed.
Source: Ambito
