Mexico seeks bids for nationwide 700 MHz wholesale LTE network to serve competitive market, public safety

Ganley applauded the Mexican government’s willingness to pursue a wholesale approach in licensing its spectrum.

“This is the future of bandwidth,” Ganley said, noting that Mexico’s model enables “the ability to monetize bandwidth in this way that opens access up to everybody, that is carrier agnostic and that will not just do a great job for public safety—which it will do—but also will enhance and provide a ubiquitous resource that is essential to modern economies.

“We’re sure that this is going to add points to GDP numbers in a place like Mexico and other countries. We’re very excited about it.”

When asked whether other countries would pursue a similar model utilizing spectrum, as opposed to traditional licensed auctions, Ganley said, “I know there is a lot of regulators who are watching the Mexican initiative—Red Compartida—very carefully. We’ll see what happens.”

Motorola Solutions has expressed interest in the Red Compartida process and submitted comments about the process last year. A Motorola Solutions official spoke about the Mexico procurement during a spectrum-management conference last week, but the company declined to be interviewed about the subject for this story.

Other notable companies that have expressed interest in Red Compartida and/or submitted comments include Ericsson SA, Nokia de Mexico and Cisco Systems de Mexico.