Argentina's government has confirmed that it will launch a 5G spectrum auction later this month.

The auction is set to kick off on October 24, as the government looks to raise $1.05 billion.

Reuters notes that the government's announcement is an attempt to gain foreign currency to help finance the 5G rollout, as the country is gripped by an economic crisis.

Argentina's telecoms regulator Enacom said that three network operators have qualified as bidders for operating the frequency bands, which range from 3,300MHz to 3,600MHz.

"In this offer, a total of 300MHz will be submitted to the auction procedure, in three lots of 100MHz each," a statement from Argentina's economy ministry said.

It was only last month that Argentina's three mobile operators expressed concerns ahead of the country's upcoming 5G tender.

The trio - Claro, Telecom Personal, and Movistar - argued that the tender goes against the best international practices in spectrum allocation and puts Argentina's rollout of 5G services at risk.

Enacom approved the conditions for a long-awaited 5G spectrum auction encompassing the 3,300MHz-3,600MHz frequency band.

The regulator revealed that a 300MHz tranche of spectrum will be auctioned in three 100MHz TDD blocks, each with a base bidding price of $350 million, under licenses permitting both mobile and fixed 5G network services, with applicants required to submit bids by September 29.

However, the Argentinian government has also reserved spectrum in the 3,600MHz-3,700MHz band for the government-owned satellite company Arsat. This has been labeled as "anti-competitive" by the country's operators.