Mobile spectrum should be awarded to co - ops for free - Caltel Chief (Argentina)Dario Oliver, the president of telecoms cooperatives chamber Catel, has stated that government should award mobile spectrum to co-ops at no charge in order to make viable their mobile telephony project.The cooperatives require approximately 10MHz of spectrum in the 1900Mhz band.
However, the government cannot award spectrum directly to the cooperatives for the mobile telephony project because there is a law which stipulates that spectrum should be auctioned. Telephony cooperatives currently offer fixed services, although some of them also provide internet services.
According to Oliver, there are approximately 320 cooperatives across the country. He added that the government will allow co-ops to enter the cable TV segment ’soon’ with the passing of a new law, as current regulations do not allow telcos to offer broadcasting services. Regarding the mobile telephony project, Oliver said that Fecotel and Fecosur already own wireless concessions, but lacked the spectrum to launch services.
