Argentine mobile operators issued a joint statement opposing to the terms recently approved by the government to auction 5G spectrum.

In a release, mobile carriers Personal, owned by Telecom Argentina, Movistar, owned by Spain’s Telefonica and Claro, owned by Mexican telecommunications group America Movil, urged the government to revise the tender documents for the 5G auction as they considered that the recently approved terms were not viable.

“It should be noted that the price assigned to each of the three blocks of 100 megahertz of spectrum in the 3.5 GHz band is very high compared to the macroeconomic situation of the country, our clients and the sector,” the telcos said.

The telcos also noted that “the base price set by [telecommunications regulator] Enacom is 300% higher than that of the same band established by Brazil, which has a completely different economic situation and is one of the best examples of 5G spectrum auction in the region.”

They also opposed to the fact that the government decided to allocate 100 megahertz of spectrum to state-run operator Arsat for free, stating that this decision would generate economic distortions and legal uncertainties in the local telecommunications market.

Claro, Personal and Movistar added that they will not participate in the spectrum auction if the government failed to modify the conditions of the 5G tender.

“We reiterate the need to review the conditions, given that the deployment of 5G is impossible in this scenario,” they said.

Earlier this week, Enacom’s board approved the terms of a long-delayed spectrum auction for the provision of 5G services in the country. 

Enacom confirmed it will make available a total of 300 megahertz of spectrum in the 3.3-3.6 GHz bands, in three batches of 100 megahertz.

Enacom said that it expects to collect $350 million with each portion of 100 megahertz of spectrum in the process.

The government reserved a portion of spectrum in the 3.6-.3.7 GHz band for state-run telecom operator Arsat for the adoption of 5G by the public sector or by signing agreements with cooperatives and SMEs.

Local carriers will have time until September 29 to submit their offers. The spectrum auction is expected to take place during the first days of November.

5G subscribers in Argentina are expected to reach 34.7 million by 2030, up compared to 5.7 million in 2025, according to a report by telecom association GSMA.

The GSMA report showed that 5G penetration in Argentina is expected to reach 9% by 2025 while it would expand to 48% by 2030.

GSMA also noted that 5G networks will cover 84% of Argentina’s population by 2030, up from 38% in 2025.