The Honduran National Congress has decided to lengthen Tigo’s recently awarded 4G LTE license by seven years, to 2028, TeleGeography reported on Thursday. National Telecommunications Commission (Conatel) awarded the LTE spectrum to America Movil, under the Claro brand, and Millicom International Cellular, under the Tigo brand, in October 2013. Block B1, the 2×20-MHz paired blocks in the 1710-MHz-1730-MHz and 2110-MHz – 2130-MHz bands went to Tigo, for $12.055 million.

The licenses call for the operators to establish national 2G networks across 100 percent of Honduran cities within three years of authorization and 3G networks to reach 25 percent of the territory in the same period, while 4G networks should cover 15 percent of the territory by 2016. Conatel’s president, Ricardo Cardona, explained that Claro and Tigo are obliged to deploy their LTE networks within a 15-18-month time-frame and must provide the services in at least 10 major cities.