The legal obstacles that are preventing the Superintendencia de Telecomunicaciones of Guatemala from tendering the AWS frequency may not be solved in the short term.
The Telecommunications Authority has announced that by June it plans to issue tenders for a part of the radio spectrum, specifically for private communication frequencies and UHF links.
Between December 2015 and June 2016 the number of fixed telephone lines grew by 40%, while the number of mobile lines grew by only 3% in the same period.
Figures from the Superintendency of Telecommunications in Guatemala show that the number of fixed telephones lines went from 1,710,000 in December 2015 to 2,400,000 in June last year, while the total number of mobile lines increased from 18.1 million to 18.6 million.
The only countries in America where mobile phone prices are still regulated are El Salvador and Costa Rica. It is no coincidence that these countries are among the last in the rankings for speed of mobile internet services.
EDITORIAL
And it is no coincidence that these two countries also suffer from the existence of the heaviest controlling bureaucracies in the Central American isthmus, with clear consequences for the slow adaptation to changes experienced by the global economy, particularly globalization.
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After declining by 22% in 2014, in 2015 the total number of mobile phone lines grew by 7%, with 18.1 million lines.
Of the total number of lines registered by the Superintendency of Telecommunications at the end of 2015, 95% are prepaid lines, a trend that has continued in recent years.
The 22% drop in 2014 has been attributed to the $0.65 tax that was proposed by the Pérez Molina administration to finance part of the 2015 budget, which was later declared unconstitutional and annulled.
The government has announced that before the end of the year they expected to tender part of the frequency spectrum which is not currently being used.
The Morales administration plan use the 700 MHz spectrum that is currently available on broadcast television as a part of the AWS band, allocating it to telecom operators in order to improve data transmission services.
The Superintendency of Telecommunications has converted two frequencies reserved for the State into regulated frequencies that can be used only if use rights are acquired, which will be auctioned.
Through a resolution adopted by the Ministry of Communications,the Superintendency of Telecommunications (SIT) was given the responsibility of changing the attribution of frequencies reserved for the State into regulated frequencies, through the purchase of use rights, which is not something that is included in the Telecommunications Act. For some lawmakers this represents an illegal act because the law can only be changed with the approval of the Congress of Guatemala.
The application of tax of $0.65 per mobile phone line that had been proposed by the Executive to fund part of the 2015 budget has been temporarily suspended.
The Constitutional Court temporarily suspended the collection of the tax on telephone lines after the Chamber of Industry and the three phone companies operating in the country submitted an appeal against the tax.
There is still a predominance of prepaid systems, which account for 95.6% of the 21,474,000 cell lines operating in the country.
The mobile phone market in Guatemala still has a preference for prepaid systems, or top up payment cards, with the number of the number of lines that operate under this mode up to July 2014 totaling 20,548,000 .
The arrival of new mobile services could be delayed if the uncertainty surrounding the renewal of licenses to mobile operators continues.
A report by the company GSMA, a firm that brings together more than 800 mobile operators in the world, presented a study which analyzes the state of the radio spectrum in Latin America and how the licenses are renewed for use in countries such as Costa Rica, Guatemala and Panama.
In June 2012 the number of active lines was recorded at 19.8 million, 4.6% less than the 20.7 million recorded at end of 2011.
Elperiodico.com.gt reports that "After nearly two decades of steady expansion, in the first half of this year the cellular figures reported a negative, according to a report prepared by the Superintendency of Telecommunications (SIT)."
The extension for another 20 years, without any fees, of the concessions for radio frequencies, will deprive the Guatemalan State of millions in income, and removes market transparency.
While in other countries concessions for the use of radio frequencies provide state coffers with many millions of dollars, in Guatemala, Congress has passed legislation extending licenses that are currently in effect for another 20 years, without any costs to the concessionaries, who in addition at the end of the period of usufruct, may renew them again.
Guatemala's Congress has amended the Telecommunications Act, increasing to 20 years the time of usufruct for the radio, television and telephony frequencies.
When the deadline has been passed, a request for extension can be made for a similar period.
"When parliamentarians were asked about why they supported the reform, most agreed that it was to create legal certainty for multinational companies wishing to invest in the country.
If approved, the usufruct of radio, television and telephony frequencies would be extended to 25 years.
The reform of the Telecommunications Act will allow beneficiaries of radio, telephone and television frequencies, who have been given usufruct for 15 years to request an extension to 25 years.
"If the law is passed, the Superintendency of Telecommunications (SIT) 'shall, no later than 15 days after filing the request for extension of the lease, provide the titles for a period of 25 years.'
The SIT has identified at least seven bands on the radio spectrum that can be used to migrate mobiles to fourth generation technology (4G).
Marco Antonio Escalante, from the Telecommunications Authority, said "the change from 3G to 4G is now up to the operators", having identified the available bands.
"Bands that the SIT has identified for cellular mobile systems under one thousand MHz are: 450 MHz, 800 MHz and 900 MHz.
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