At the end of 2021, the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) completed its most recent spectrum auction, offering 16 lots in the 850 MHz and 900 MHz bands and raising over AU$2 billion.
Telstra and Optus were the only bidders in the auction and did so following relatively divergent 5G strategies: Telstra targeted the 850 MHz band, picking up the four available lots for roughly AU$615 million, while Optus won all the 900 MHz spectrum available for roughly AU$1…

At the end of 2021, the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) completed its most recent spectrum auction, offering 16 lots in the 850 MHz and 900 MHz bands and raising over AU$2 billion.

Telstra and Optus were the only bidders in the auction and did so following relatively divergent 5G strategies: Telstra targeted the 850 MHz band, picking up the four available lots for roughly AU$615 million, while Optus won all the 900 MHz spectrum available for roughly AU$1.4 billion.

The licences won at the auction will come into force on July 1, 2024, and last for a 20-year term. 

Naturally, this is quite a delay for the operators, who are keen to begin making use of the spectrum as soon as possible. As such, the ACMA quickly announced that it would authorise PMTS (public mobile telecommunications service) Class B licences – essentially ‘early access’ licences that would allow the operators to make use of the spectrum at specific, registered locations.

In cases where a PMTS licence would clash with existing spectrum licences, the ACAM said it would allow whoever registered first to be given priority.  

This decision represented something of an opportunity for Telstra. The operator still owns 900 MHz spectrum that it had previously used for its now retired 2G network. Registering for PMTS licences would allow Telstra to make use of this largely unused spectrum for the first time since 2016.

As a result, Telstra quickly registered 206 additional sites to use 900 MHz spectrum, on top of the 109 sites it currently had registered. 

“We identified an opportunity to reduce congestion in a small number of places by moving 3G traffic onto our 900 MHz spectrum, given it is unused and we own until 2024. At the same time this would free up 850 MHz spectrum to meet the growing demands of our 5G customers,” explained Telstra.

However, the ACCC suggested that these deployments could hinder competition with Optus, noting that could interfere with the latter’s national 5G rollout. 

“[The registration] had the substantial purpose or likely effect of lessening competition by Optus, as Telstra knew of the importance of this spectrum band to Optus’ 5G rollout plan,” said ACCC commissioner Liza Carver.

While Telstra disagrees with this assessment, the operator has subsequently agreed to deregister 153 of the sites, leaving just 162 still registered. 

“While we do not agree with the ACCC’s view, these cases can be drawn out, costly and time-consuming, and risk distracting us from providing better service to our customers, including customers in regional Australia,” said Telstra. “To avoid that we have filed an undertaking to deregister sites in areas Optus demonstrates it will use the spectrum in its 5G rollout.”

This clash over mobile site licences is taking place against the backdrop of a far larger struggle between Telstra and Optus, with the latter decrying the network sharing agreement Telstra struck with TPG earlier this year as uncompetitive. Optus has said that the deal is “uniquely one-sided” and will largely serve as a merger disguised as a partnership. Earlier this month, Telstra struck back, accusing Optus of ‘scaremongering’ and suggesting that parts of the deal have been “twisted intentionally” to “mischaracterise” the arrangement. 

Also in the news:

India has concluded its long-delayed 5G auction, raising almost $19 million in what proved to be a much more competitive process than anticipated. 
The seminal 5G auction made spectrum in a huge array of spectrum bands – 600MHz, 700MHz, 800MHz, 900MHz, 1.8GHz, 2.1GHz, 2.3GHz, 3.3GHz, and 26GHz – available to the operators for the first time. 
The Indian operators have been trialling the new technology for the past year, with Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel, and Vodafone Idea (Vi) all suggesting they would look to launch 5G services in 2022 as soon as the auction has concluded.
For a long time, however, the extent to which the Indian operators would want to compete in the 5G auction was unclear…

India has concluded its long-delayed 5G auction, raising almost $19 million in what proved to be a much more competitive process than anticipated. 

The seminal 5G auction made spectrum in a huge array of spectrum bands – 600MHz, 700MHz, 800MHz, 900MHz, 1.8GHz, 2.1GHz, 2.3GHz, 3.3GHz, and 26GHz – available to the operators for the first time. 

The Indian operators have been trialling the new technology for the past year, with Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel, and Vodafone Idea (Vi) all suggesting they would look to launch 5G services in 2022 as soon as the auction has concluded.

For a long time, however, the extent to which the Indian operators would want to compete in the 5G auction was unclear, with the telcos complaining that the spectrum’s reserve prices were too high. At time, Airtel had even threatened not to bid for spectrum at all if the price was not lowered. 

Ultimately, however, the government agreed to reduce prices by only a small margin, but instead introduced various measures to make the operators participation more viable. This included giving the operators the option to pay for the spectrum in annual instalments, surrender the spectrum back to the government after 10 years, and also completely removed spectrum usage charges.

As a result, this week the Indian operators have bid for spectrum with relative intensity, purchasing 71% of the spectrum available.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Reliance Jio has won the lion’s share of the spectrum, spending roughly $11.15 billion to acquire blocks of 700MHz, 800MHz, 1.8GHz, 3.3GHz, and 26GHz spectrum. 

« We will celebrate ‘Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav’ [75th Year of Independence Day of India] with a pan India 5G rollout, » said Akash Ambani, Chairman, Reliance Jio. « Jio is committed to offering world-class, affordable 5G and 5G-enabled services. We will provide services, platforms and solutions that will accelerate India’s digital revolution, especially in crucial sectors like Education, Healthcare, Agriculture, Manufacturing and e-Governance. » 

Airtel was the second largest winner, spending $5.45 billion, focussing largely on the 3.3GHz and 26GHz bands. The company also bought spectrum in the 900MHz, 1.8GHz, and 2.1GHz bands and notably ignored the 700MHz band, which it still deemed to be too expensive.

Cash-strapped Vi purchased $2.37 billion-worth of 3.3GHz and 26GHz spectrum for limited deployment in certain circles. 

« We have successfully acquired mid-band 5G spectrum (3.3GHz band) in our 17 priority circles and mmWave 5G spectrum (26GHz band) in 16 circles, which will enable us to offer a superior 5G experience to our customers as well as strengthen our enterprise offerings and provide new opportunities for business growth in the emerging 5G era, » explained the company in a statement. 

The final bidder in the auction was wireless newcomer Adani Group, backed by billionaire Gautam Adani. 

Indian operators had initially complained to the regulator when it was announced that the spectrum auction would be opened to enterprise players, arguing that this could cost them valuable revenue and thereby impact their ability to roll out 5G efficiently to Indian consumers. They also worried that this would allow major corporations, like Adani Group, to strongarm their way into the consumer mobile market, giving them greater leverage to acquire or merge with mobile players.

However, it seems that their fears were largely unfounded. Adani Group proved the only non-operator to sign up to participate in the auction and has walked away with a meagre 400MHz of spectrum, spending just $26.84 million – surely too small a quantity to represent a threat to the existing mobile ecosystem. 

Adani Groups says the spectrum will be used to offer private network services to enterprise customers.

The conclusion of the auction marks a major step for the Indian telecoms industry, one that the government hopes will become the backbone of its booming digital economy. 

It is worth noting, however, that there is one more player that could yet play a supporting role in India’s growing mobile market: Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL). 

The government is currently attempting to reinvigorate state-run fixed line operator BSNL, recently announcing a $20.5 billion relief package for the company and giving it the green light to merge with Bharat Broadband Network Limited, the company deploying and operating BharatNet. 

Despite struggling to compete against Jio and Airtel in the fixed line market, BSNL has long had ambitions of becoming a major wireless player. So far, however, it only has a nationwide 3G network and a very limited 4G deployment, recording around 110 million subscribers in September 2021. The company’s long-awaited nationwide 4G launch could finally take place later this year – indeed, the government granted BSNL additional 4G spectrum as part of its relief package – but this would likely be after its mobile rivals had already begun to launch 5G. 

BSNL has been conducting its own 5G trials over the last year, but did not bid for any 5G spectrum at this week’s auction, meaning their potential 5G future is mired in uncertainty.  

Today, Chilean state-run infrastructure fund Desarrollo País and H2 Cable, a subsidiary of Singapore’s BW Digital, have announced they now seeking a partner to begin work on the Humboldt Cable, a submarine cable system set to link Latin America to the Asia Pacific and Oceania regions for the first time. 
 
The planned Humboldt Cable will span roughly 15,000km as it connects Valparaiso, Chile, to Sydney, Australia. From there, Humboldt will interconnect to other cable systems in Asia.
 
The initial plans for the system also include provisions deploy additional branches to the Juan Fernández Islands, Easter Island and New Zealand, further diversifying the route…

Today, Chilean state-run infrastructure fund Desarrollo País and H2 Cable, a subsidiary of Singapore’s BW Digital, have announced they now seeking a partner to begin work on the Humboldt Cable, a submarine cable system set to link Latin America to the Asia Pacific and Oceania regions for the first time. 

The planned Humboldt Cable will span roughly 15,000km as it connects Valparaiso, Chile, to Sydney, Australia. From there, Humboldt will interconnect to other cable systems in Asia.

The initial plans for the system also include provisions deploy additional branches to the Juan Fernández Islands, Easter Island and New Zealand, further diversifying the route. 

Only once the RFP is complete will we have a good idea of the costs of the cable, but early estimates range between $450 million and $650 million.

Currently, all data seeking to travel across the Pacific Ocean from South America must first travel up the continent’s west coast and into the USA, with the most southerly transpacific cables currently coming ashore in California.

Thus, the new Humboldt Cable would provide a much more direct route for South American data traffic across the Pacific, potentially positioning Chile as a major regional connectivity hub. Once completed, Humboldt is expected to carry around 18% of the data traffic between South America and Asia, with studies suggesting this could grow to 28% over the next 25 years.  

« We have set an ambitious goal to transform Chile into a digital hub for Latin America, » said Desarrollo País CEO Patricio Rey Sommer. « The project is entering its most challenging stage with the technical definition of the route and schedules for execution now being set, and we have asked that suppliers’ proposals be based on an Open Cable System model. »

The Chilean government calls the Humboldt system “one of the most ambitious projects of the last decades”, suggesting that it will allow for greater investment in Chile and help facilitate the adoption of the latest technologies throughout the country.

“The Humboldt cable is undoubtedly one of the most ambitious projects of the last decades. We are talking about a strategic investment that puts us at the level of what the digital revolution demands and offers us enormous opportunities for the development of an industry with great potential in our country,” said Gloria Hutt, Chile’s Minister of Transport and Telecommunications. “We are sure that through this project we will expand competitive advantages and further promote investment interest in Chile. Along this path we will be able to expand the development of digital solutions such as the Data Center, Big Data and Machine Learning, which will imply multiple economic benefits that will have a direct impact on the quality of life of Chileans.”

« The Humboldt cable is going to represent enormous growth in terms of the links and capabilities of the region to cooperate and develop joint research capabilities with research and education networks located in Asia, » explained Luis Cadenas, executive director of RedClara.

There is also a suggestion that the Humboldt Cable could be extended to Antarctica, in order to support the scientific communities located on the continent. Currently these communities are primarily delivered connectivity via very-small-aperture terminal (VSAT) satellite systems, which access geosynchronous or geostationary satellites to relay data. However, as the volume of data being handled by the station’s increases, these VSAT will begin to be unfeasible.

Naturally, there is a geopolitical element here too. Antarctica has been designated as a neutral scientific preserve since the 1960s, with long-term research staff present on the continent from 29 countries at any one time. Chile, with its close proximity to the continent, exerts considerable influence over the region, something that would be significantly increased if Chile could become the thoroughfare for the continent’s scientific data to reach the rest of the world.