14 November 2024

Regulator Sutel has reportedly restarted the country’s 5G spectrum auction process, following the dismissal by The Comptroller General of the Republic (CGR) of most of the objections of Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad (Grupo ICE), the Costa Rican government-run electricity and telecommunications services provider.

There was apparently an error in the annex to the specifications, relating to coverage guarantees. This was one of ICE’s objections and one of the few to be accepted. The error has now been corrected.

However, ICE also objected to spectrum caps, which effectively mean that it can’t compete for more mid-range spectrum – 1GHz to 6GHz. This, along with most other ICE objections, has been rejected. ICE has so far held up the auction process with this argument twice. Now, however, Sutel aims to resume with the new deadlines and will be able to receive applications from bidders interested in the spectrum.