Instituto Federal de Telecomunicaciones

The Plenary of IFT approves the 2015 Use and Exploitation of Bands Annual Program

The Plenary of the Federal Telecommunications Institute (Instituto Federal de Telecomunicaciones, IFT) approved, in extraordinary session, the 2015 Use and Development of Frequency Bands Annual Program (Agenda 2015), which contains the frequencies and radio spectrum bands to be made available to interested parties for the provision of telecommunications and broadcasting services, through a bidding process or, if appropriate, by direct allocation next year.

Thus, the IFT implements, in a timely manner, as provided in Article 59 of the Federal Telecommunications and Broadcasting Law (Ley Federal de Telecomunicaciones y Radiodifusión, LFTR) which establishes the obligation to issue, no later than December 31 of each year, the program with the frequency bands of spectrum determined to be tendered or who may be allocated directly, and which must contain at least the services to be supplied, their category, use patterns and geographic coverage.

To prepare the 2015 Program, the Institute was based on the following criteria: promote the efficient use of radio spectrum, the benefit of the users, the development of competition and diversity and introduction of new telecommunications and broadcasting; promote the convergence of networks and services to achieve efficient use of infrastructure and innovation in application development and ensure the necessary spectrum for the purposes and functions of the Federal Executive.

In this sense, in telecommunications for commercial use, the 2015 Program provides:

a) The concessioning of 60 MHz of spectrum identified for International Mobile Telecommunications (IMT) service deployment, specifically in the segments of 1710-1725 / 2110-2125 MHz and 1755- 1770 / 2155-2170 MHz.

b) The concessioning of 10 MHz of spectrum in the lower UHF range, specifically in the 440-450 MHz segment for the provision of capacity for private radio systems.

The 2015 Program states that a decision on these tenders of commercial use must be within 2015. Also, for the first time specific bands for social services use in the telecommunications sector are determined. For this, is contemplated the concessioning of various portions of spectrum that are available within the segment known as the cellular band between 824-849 MHz and between 869-

894 MHz. For its use it is proposed that these portions of spectrum to concession for the provision of rural connectivity, which could meet the immediate needs to have basic telephone service in regions not served by existing concessionaires.

Regarding frequencies for telecommunications services for public use, the 2015 Program includes two frequency bands: 415-420 / 425-430 and 806-814 / 851-859. Those interested in obtaining a concession for public use to provide telecommunications services may submit the relevant applications for these and other bands during any working day of the year.

As for broadcasting, the 2015 Program includes the concessioning of 115 frequencies for radio broadcasting service in Frequency Modulation in different regions. Of these, 97 frequencies are for commercial use and 18 for social use, which is determined in response to expressions of interest, the economic capacity of the spaces and the available spectrum.

For broadcast television services no spectrum was considered for a concession in 2015, since they are currently ongoing procedures such as frequencies tendering to form at least two chains of digital broadcast television, the transition to Digital Terrestrial Television and the evaluation of the eventual clearance of 600 MHz band (TV channels 38 to 51).

Regarding the frequencies to grant rights for indigenous and social use, the IFT determined to reserve the frequencies contained between FM 106 and 108 MHz, which means, according to the provisions of the legal framework, 10% of the FM band; while that in the corresponding frequencies AM were reserved for his extended band from 1605-1705 kHz. For this type of concessioning is included in 2015 Program all the bands reserved and three terms are defined to present the corresponding applications: April, July and November 2015.

For concessions for public use in broadcasting applications submitted by the deadline set in the 2015 program itself, both stations AM, FM or TV are considered, the latter only in the range of 14 to 37 channels.

The Institute will establish coordination mechanisms with the various relevant bodies for the allocation of concessions for public use, to ensure the spectral requirements of the Federal Executive in terms of law and seek to meet those of other bodies to which awards may be intended for public use in terms of the LFTR.

Note that, once released the 2015 Program, a period of 30 working days is opened to allow interested parties to request the inclusion of frequency bands or additional geographic coverage or different from those mentioned in accordance with the provisions of 61 Article of Federal Telecommunications and Broadcasting Law. Once this period has elapsed, the IFT evaluate applications for inclusion received within thirty working days to, if necessary, to make the appropriate changes in the final program that will be applicable for 2015.

Thus, the IFT seeks to make available for 2015, various bands and frequency channels in suitable portions of spectrum for the provision of high impact for society, such as mobile broadband communications, rural telephony, radio and television, among others.