On average across Latin America only 20 percent of the ITU’s recommended target spectrum allocation for 2015 has been met, resulting in a tremendous shortfall of available spectrum, reports 4G Americas. Without adequate spectrum, LTE services are not able to be efficiently delivered, putting the region at a disadvantage with many other regions of the world.

To address this issue, 4G Americas will be supporting Forum Global’s 2014 Latin America Spectrum Management Conference, May 14-15 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. 

According to 4G Americas, the 700 MHz band is needed to continue the progress of mobile broadband connections in the region and to provide a coverage layer to complement current mobile broadband deployments in higher spectrum bands. The improved coverage with 700 MHz is ideal for rural areas and will extend the current urban services to more people in the region. Brazil and Colombia are expected to auction 700 MHz in the late 2014/early 2015 timeframe.  

Another important spectrum band for Latin America is the extended AWS band. U.S. recently concluded a proceeding to auction the AWS-3 (Advanced Wireless Services) band of 1755-1780 MHz matched with 2155-2180 MHz in late 2014. The AWS band is harmonized across the Americas for mobile broadband, which means the entire AWS spectrum band (starting at 1710 MHz in the lower band and 2110 MHz in the upper band) could be a significant band for LTE roaming and scale economies throughout North, Central and South America. Peru is among those countries currently working to similarly extend its AWS allocation.

There are 38 commercial LTE networks in 18 countries of Latin America and the number of LTE connections is expected to increase by 100 percent in the next two years, according to Informa Telecoms and Media.