Report: Nextel Interested in Mobile Band Auction

Mexican digital trunking operator Nextel México is interested in participating in auctions for mobile bandwidth to be held later this year, local daily El Milenio quoted Nextel's corporate VP Gustavo Cantú as saying.

According to the report, Cantú found that acquiring new bandwidth would be "indispensable," but the company would first have to see the bidding rules before making a final decision.

However, Nextel, owned by Latin American digital trunking firm NII Holdings, already has 50 MHz of 3.4 GHz spectrum nationwide in Mexico that it is not using.

The company received the spectrum from a September 2006 acquisition of wireless internet access provider Cosmofrecuencias.

The country's telecoms regulator Cofetel sent an initial plan for the auction to the country's communications and transport ministry SCT last week and has said previously it expects to auction the spectrum before the end of the year.

When contacted by BNamericas, a NII spokesperson confirmed the company is considering the auction, but has not yet made a decision at the corporate level."

Posted to the site on 26th June 2007