Governments in the Americas are responding to increasing demand by allocating and awarding more spectrum to IMT services.

Awards ongoing in 2022 include:

• In the USA, the FCC launched auction 108 in July 2022 to award 117.5 MHz in the 2.6 GHz band (2496-2690 MHz)
• In June 2022, Argentina published the rules to assign on demand up to 2x30 MHz of spectrum in the 2.6 GHz band; and
• Canada is holding a consultation related to a future award of the mmWave bands (26 GHz, 28 GHz and 38 GHz) to support 5G services and also approved rules to auction 250 MHz in the 3.8 GHz band in October 2023.

Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador and Peru also announced spectrum awards which are planned for 2022 and 2023, after being postponed from previous years. Most of the awards include the mid-band spectrum.

According to Cullen International’s research, as of August 2022, countries in the Americas region have assigned an average of 497.5 MHz in spectrum below 6 GHz, to be exploited for mobile services.

The USA, Brazil and Canada have assigned the most spectrum for mobile services in the region, with the USA having assigned the largest amount of spectrum in the mid–bands and mmWave bands.

Ten other countries have assigned more mobile spectrum than the regional average: Peru, Mexico, Chile, Dominican Republic, Costa Rica, Uruguay and Colombia. Nearly all of these countries held auctions between 2020 and 2021, with Peru planning a new auction in 2022.

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