Eight out of the eleven covered countries in the Americas have awarded spectrum in the 3.5 GHz band for international mobile telecommunications (IMT) services. This is one of the main findings of Cullen International’s latest benchmark on the status of the 3.3–3.98 GHz band in the region.

Argentina, Canada and Colombia conducted awards in this band in the final quarter of 2023. The amount of spectrum awarded and the size of spectrum blocks vary greatly across the region, although most countries adopted plans for unpaired (TDD) use of the band.

Most countries still have not awarded the full 400 MHz identified for IMT services in the Americas after the World Radiocommunication Conference 2023. In 2024, Chile expects to award 50 MHz in the band, while Colombia seeks to award 80 MHz. The Costa Rican auction that includes 200 MHz in the band was initially planned for the second half of 2023 but was delayed, with no new schedule announced.

Countries in the region use different strategies to deal with legacy services in the band, depending on the legacy use and the award design. For example, the auction rules for part of the band in the USA required new licensees to compensate fixed satellite services operators for the reasonable costs of their migration to frequencies above 4 GHz. However, in Argentina, compensation is only required in case of harmful interference with adjacent spectrum services.

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