A final decision regarding the 190MHz block of spectrum in the 2.5GHz band currently held by MVS Telecomunicaciones could soon be made by the Mexican government, Reuters reports, citing communications and transport minister Dionisio Perez-Jacome.

As noted in TeleGeography’s GlobalComms Database, in February 2010 the Secretario de Comunicacionesy Transportes (SCT) confirmed that it would not renew MVS’ nine 2.5GHz band concessions, with the regulator at that date reiterating previous claims of poor spectrum utilisation by the operator, while also adding that global trends suggested that the frequencies would be put to better use by technologies such as Long Term Evolution (LTE). MVS had previously countered the government’s claims by arguing that the state’s indecision over whether to renew its licences had held up investments in deploying new services, and said it would issue a legal challenge against the SCT’s decision.

In the latest development the minister noted that the state was keen ‘to make the best use possible of the band,’ while adding that in terms of the process of considering the matter he said: ‘We are in the final stage … my intention is to accelerate things more and solve (the issue). I do hope that it is ready in the first half of the year.’ For its part MVS reportedly submitted a business plan earlier this year to the government in which it called for the creation of a consortium comprised of itself, wireless operator Clearwire Corp and chip maker Intel Corp that would administer an LTE-based network. Under the plan the trio would invest around USD400 million in the infrastructure, selling access to the LTE backbone to third parties.