Will Mexico Restrict AT&T?

The Federal Telecommunications Institute, Mexico’s telecom regulator, is considering restricting AT&T from bidding for all of the 80 MHz of AWS spectrum that will be auctioned off in January 2016. The IFT has decided to sell 30 MHz of AWS-1 bands and 50 MHz of AWS-3 bands. These bands are used to deploy 4G LTE networks. AT&T entered into the Mexican telecom industry earlier this year after acquiring Grupo Isuacell and Nextel de Mexico. They now own more spectrum in the AWS bands than any other wireless operator in Mexico. According to El Economista, the regulators may block AT&T to bid for only 5 blocks of spectrum to be auctioned instead of bidding a total of 8 or 9 blocks. This is so smaller carriers can acquire more spectrum to help them better compete against AT&T.