Argentina - 5G update: 3500 MHz n78 band allocation

ENACOM issued resolution 2386/2022 (attached), which inform the official allocation of the first 5G band in Argentina.

You can find Article 1 on page 8, which states that Argentina will use 3300-3600 MHz portion of n78 band in TDD mode for this service within the country.

Each carrier will count with a recommended bandwidth of 100MHz.

ENACOM gives a period of time to other services using this range to migrate to new designated range. This is explained on articles 5 to 9, depending on the service.

The next step is the bidding by the service providers. The first rule for any provider is to obtain the enabling license, registration of the service and comply with the technical plans and applicable technical standards, as well as those established in terms of operational compatibility, minimum quality of service and network interconnection. For your information, all these required parameters are specified on the “General Regulation of the Reliable and Intelligent Telecommunications Service (STeFI)”, which can be found in Spanish on page 6 of resolution 2385/2022 (attached).

Minimum technical guidelines are on article 5 (page 8):

1. Peak Theoretical and reproducible speeds in the laboratory for 100 MHz bandwidth channels TDD with Massive MIMO antenna technology: 2 Gbps for downlink and 150 Mbps for uplink.

2. Support channels with a bandwidth of up to 100 MHz, for frequencies less than 6 GHz; and channels of up to 400 MHz BW, for frequencies greater than 6 GHz.

3. Support users moving with speeds of up to 500 km/h.

4. Latency less than 15 milliseconds in the access network.

5. Interoperability capacity with other fixed and mobile networks, in order to allow communication between users of the same service, as well as with users of the SCM.

6. Global roaming capability.

The Resolution 2386/2022 can be found at below official link:

https://www.boletinoficial.gob.ar/detalleAviso/primera/278552/20221229

We are now working to get some additional information from ENACOM to know how devices will be registered (we are almost sure that foreign test reports will be accepted), if registered devices using 5G capability needs a modification on its file or a new registration is requested, etc. We will back to you with additional information in a few weeks.

For full support with your global market access requirements or regulatory intelligence needs please contact us at GMA@vscbcorp.com.