Industry Calls for Changes to Mexico’s 5G Auction

Telecom operators, industry groups, and potential users are urging Mexico’s CRT to revise its industrial 5G auction, citing high spectrum costs, participation barriers, and unclear rules.

Mexico’s first spectrum auction designed specifically for intelligent industrial radio networks is facing calls for significant revisions from telecommunications operators, industry associations, legal specialists, and potential industrial users. Submissions to the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission (CRT) show broad support for expanding private and industrial connectivity, but raise concerns over spectrum prices, participation limits, geographic coverage, legal certainty, and the auction’s timetable.

The CRT-RRI-01 auction would make spectrum in the 2.3GHz band available for networks serving manufacturing, logistics, mining, ports, industrial corridors, and other productive activities. These networks are expected to support applications including automation, the Internet of Things, advanced manufacturing, and private LTE and 5G connectivity.

Telecommunications specialists and several companies have submitted comments during the consultation process. These companies and industry groups include: Axtel; AT&T; the National Chamber of the Electronics, Telecommunications, and Information Technologies Industry (CANIETI); the Inter-American Association of Telecommunications Companies (ASIET); and Peñoles Tecnología.

Spectrum Costs and Participation Limits Draw Scrutiny

Axtel urges the CRT to prioritize infrastructure investment and industrial digitalization over government revenue when establishing the auction’s minimum reference values. The company argued that the auction is intended to create a new industrial-connectivity market rather than expand conventional mass-market mobile services.

For this reason, Axtel said spectrum values should not be determined using historical or international benchmarks drawn from traditional mobile auctions. Lower entry costs could attract technology integrators, specialized industrial-connectivity providers, and industrial groups, while reducing the risk that spectrum remains unassigned.

Axtel also requested that the auction begin no earlier than September 2026. Potential bidders need time to define business models, identify customers, calculate deployment costs and secure internal investment approvals, it said. Many possible participants did not include spectrum purchases and network deployments in their approved 2026 budgets.

AT&T argues that Mexico’s spectrum costs remain the main obstacle to infrastructure deployment. According to the company, spectrum prices for key bands are, on average, 80% above international market references. It cites operators’ past spectrum returns and the limited demand recorded in the former IFT-10 auction, where 38 of the 41 blocks offered were not awarded.  

AT&T says the annual fees charged for spectrum use should be substantially reduced before the government proceeds with new auctions. The company also criticizes the proposed 20% spectrum-accumulation limit, which would effectively prevent AT&T and Telcel from bidding under the CRT’s current calculation.

The proposed methodology places Telcel’s spectrum holding at 33.51% and AT&T’s at 26.21%. AT&T argued that including additional mobile bands, such as 700MHz, 800MHz, and 850MHz, would reduce its calculated share to 18.9%, allowing it to participate.

ASIET warns that excluding national mobile operators could remove the companies with the greatest experience, infrastructure and capacity to deploy industrial solutions. The association also questions the use of national spectrum holdings to restrict participation in a specific region or industrial polygon, since an operator may hold significant spectrum nationally but have limited presence in the location where an industrial customer needs connectivity.

ASIET points to regional models that link spectrum assignment to investment and coverage commitments. It highlighted Brazil’s 2021 5G auction, Colombia’s social-maximization model, and Costa Rica’s 2025 process, where 90% of the value assigned was converted into commitments to construct radio base stations.

Industry Seeks Smaller Coverage Areas, Private Network Rules

Potential industrial users also called for greater flexibility. Peñoles Tecnología says the proposed rules do not clearly address private, noncommercial networks. It requested a defined authorization and concession process for private industrial systems, together with proportionate technical, legal, and financial requirements that reflect the scale of individual projects rather than the obligations imposed on nationwide operators. The company also urged the CRT to maintain technological neutrality so that projects can use private LTE or 5G networks without favoring a particular architecture or supplier.

Peñoles says coverage areas should correspond to the real locations of mines, exploration projects, and processing plants. It proposed geographically limited local or regional polygons instead of rigid state or national coverage schemes. The company also requested clear rules covering concession renewals, transfers, modifications, and operational continuity.

AT&T similarly argued that the industrial regions proposed for the first phase are too large. Some cover several municipalities or as many as one or two states, even though intelligent industrial radio networks are defined as systems serving particular needs within a limited geographic area.

CANIETI proposes clarifying references to Mexico’s Development Poles for Well-Being and defining the type of commercial spectrum concession to be awarded. It also warns that the proposed calculation of bids could result in disproportionately high bid guarantees, creating an artificial participation barrier.  

Transparency and Legal Certainty Remain Central

Several submissions argue that the draft rules do not provide enough information to assess participation risks. AT&T requests publication of the methodology used to calculate minimum reference values and bid guarantees. Without those figures, potential participants cannot accurately evaluate the auction’s economic viability or the competitive implications of bidding for industrial regions and individual polygons, it says.  

Salazar & Solís Abogados calls for objective criteria governing the CRT’s technical feasibility assessments. The firm says participants should know in advance which technical elements will be evaluated and requested publication of the methodology supporting the proposed spectrum cap. The firm also argues that penalties should distinguish between serious violations and minor formal errors, rather than imposing disproportionate consequences for all post-award compliance failures.

Telecommunications consultant Alonso Picazo questioned an apparent inconsistency in the spectrum being offered. While the draft defines the 2.3GHz band as covering 2300MHz to 2400MHz, the auction would apparently consider only the 2360MHz to 2400MHz segment. He also says the competition authority’s opinion should be obtained well before other auction stages begin.  

The submissions show broad industry interest in using spectrum to accelerate Mexico’s industrial transformation. However, they also indicate that the auction’s success may depend on whether the CRT can balance competition, affordability, and legal certainty while creating viable conditions for both telecommunications operators and direct industrial users.