Panama’s public services regulator Asep has no plans to launch 5G networks, at least until the COVID-19 pandemic is over.

Asep’s head of regulation strategies, David Ramos, told a webinar on Monday that no operator has yet approached the watchdog with any intention of deploying the new technology in the country.

“At the moment, operators are still focused on expanding the capabilities of their 4G LTE networks, which have helped support public communications during the pandemic,” he said.

Once the worst of the health crisis is over, the regulator could use the 120MHz of spectrum in the AWS band that was made available to operators in 2018 to deploy 5G, Ramos said.

During the peak of the pandemic, Asep provided operators with spectrum in the AWS band to help them support data traffic.

The dominant players in the Central American country, according to the regulator’s 2020 reports, are Grupo de Comunicaciones Digitales, Cable & Wireless Panamá, Digicel Panamá, América Móvil’s Claro Panamá and Telefónica‘s Movistar. The latter sold its business in Panama and Nicaragua to Millicom earlier this year.

MYTHS DEBUNKED

Asep’s head of spectrum management, Noel Smith, said that the telecom authority carried out a series of investigations and field tests to measure the possible health risks of non-ionizing radiation such as mobile frequencies among the population.