The president of the Dominican Telecommunications Institute (Indotel), Nelson Arroyo says the Dominican government will receive between US$200 million and US$300 million for the lease of the 700 MHZ and 3.5 GHz bands of the radio spectrum for the deployment of the 5G network, as reported in Acento.
“The 5G is the fifth generation in mobile technology that will revolutionize telecommunications significantly because it will give much more speed to the Internet service here,” he says. He explained that at present the spectrum operates between 10 megabytes to 100 megabytes, with a connection capacity of one thousand. “With 5G we will be able to reach up to 10 thousand megabytes, so it is an extraordinary speed,” he said Arroyo when interviewed by Pablo McKinney for “En McKinney” on Color Visión television. He said with 5G the connection capacity will be one million per square kilometer.
Last week, Indotel announced a tender for the 700MHz and 3.5GHz spectrum bands, the latter considered the main one for 5G. The auction will award blocks of 100MHz spectrum in the 3.5GHz mid-band. The deadline for registration, inquiries and responses to queries is May 2021, with the awarding of the frequencies scheduled for the same month. The DR would become the second in the region to award 5G frequencies, after Chile.
Arroyo predicted this will solve signal problems that occurs in buildings.
“The implementation of this network is going to make intelligent cars possible, that a surgeon can perform an operation remotely through this modern technology, and also that people can remotely make an inventory of the missing products in one’s refrigerator and then call the supermarket,” he said.
Likewise, he informed that with the implementation of 5G there will be more space for the radioelectric spectrum because in the same place where an analog channel operates, several channels will be in operation.
He also informed that Indotel is working with the National Broadband Plan for the installation of an optic fiber network throughout the country. The InterAmerican Development Bank will finance this.
Regarding the implementation of digital television, Arroyo pointed out that many TV sets, especially those of the lower class of the population, are not be prepared for this technology, so the government will donate devices so the TV sets can work with digital technology.
He pointed out that when digital television gets its start as scheduled in 2022, the channels that continue to operate in analog mode will be relocated and will have a space to transmit freely.
Furthermore, he said the government is contracting equipment to measure the quality of mobile internet. He said users frequently complain they contract for a quantity (of gigabytes), yet their telecom provider does not deliver this speed.
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Acento
14 February 2021