2 New LTE Licenses Awarded in Peru

Telefonica Moviles and Americatel Peru have won their bids for 4G spectrum licenses  in Peru, in auctions that raised US$257 million.

Peru’s Ministry of Transport and Communication (MTC) sold two 20-year, 40 MHz (2×20MHz) spectrum licences in the 1700MHz and 2100MHz paired bands (Advanced Wireless Services spectrum) for 4G services.

Movistar was awarded the ‘A’ block of 1700MHz/2100MHz frequencies.

Americatel Peru, the Peruvian arm of Chile’s Entel, won the ‘B’ block of AWS spectrum.

The two operators have been given six years to build out their networks across 234 districts in the country, with three years to provide coverage in Peru’s major cities.

Another smaller provider, VelaTel Global Communications, on the other hand, decided it could not obtain 4G assets in Lima, its core market, and earlier in 2013 made preparations to sell its assets.

VelaTel Peru historically offered fixed telephony services including interconnections, national and international long distance, and voice over internet protocol (VoIP) solutions. VelaTel Peru also was awarded radio frequency licenses to use 2.5 GHz spectrum to offer wireless broadband access services in eight of Peru’s largest cities (excluding the capital city of Lima and its suburbs). In 2010, VelaTel launched a network in the Peru market under the brand name GO MOVIL.

The Chinese company that owns VetaTel also has other communications assets in China, Europe and other parts of Asia.