Chile's telecoms watchdog Subtel plans to launch auction for 4G LTE spectrum in the 2.6 GHz band inn December and expects to conclude it by mid-2011, reports bnamericas.

Subtel's head Jorge Atton said, "The 2.6 GHz band is available. We are clearing the spectrum and we've decided to auction it. We want coverage and we want broadband capacity to grow and for that we have to provide spectrum."

"In December we will launch the auction. Then a three to five-month process will follow, meaning we hope to award the spectrum no later than June, which will coincide with the introduction of number portability and greater competition," Atton added. 

Earlier this year Chilean mobile operator Entel PCS had performed LTE tests at Universidad de Chile. During the test, done over a real LTE network configuration, maximum download speeds of 50 Mbps, using 20 MHz (10 MHz for the uplink and 10 MHz for the downlink) was observed. The operator used Ericsson gear to perform its demonstration.