According to a recent report by El Universal, Mexico's Secretariat of Communications and Transport (SCT) has decided to delay the announcement of the names of the winners for its 700 MHz nationwide shared broadband network on Sep 29, 2016. The SCT was initially slated to declare the tender winners on Aug 24. The SCT has cited the number of tenders and the complexity of queries and requests for clarification submitted by the bidders as the primary reasons for the delay.
In 2014, the Mexican government had undertaken a massive project of shared wireless network to instil competition in the highly monopolistic telecom industry. The idea was to facilitate small-scale telecom operators to use this state-owned network for their wireless coverage instead of installing their own network, which intends to be highly capital intensive process.
However, in May 2015, the government of Mexico slashed its planned expenditure from $10 billion to $7 billion for the proposed deployment of nationwide wholesale mobile network over the next 20 years. The primary reason for the cut in planned expenditure was the government’s belief that 12,000 mobile towers should suffice the installation of this network as against 20,000 estimated earlier.
The SCT had opened tender to take part in the government’s proposed wholesale shared mobile network project in Mar 2015. However, the auction finally materialized on Jan 29, 2016. The SCT has decided to auction at least 90 MHz of spectrum within the 700 MHz-band to cover nearly 98% of the population by 2018.
Various leading telecom infrastructure equipment developers with global operational experience offered bids for the state-owned mobile network project in Mexico. Notable among them were Ericsson AB ERIC, Nokia Corp. NOK, Cisco Systems Inc. CSCO, Motorola Solutions Inc. MSI, China Telecom Corp. Ltd. CHA, Alestra, and Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. The SCT received 39 tenders from interested parties.
Mexico is the largest economy in the Latin American region with a growing middle class population eager to spend more on high-speed wireless networks for facilitating the use of smartphones and tablets. Also, the wireless penetration rate is relatively lower in the country. Thus, weighing such positives, an investment in the nation may bode well for telecom network equipment manufacturers.
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