President Jair Bolsonaro provided the service authorizations to the group of 10 companies that successfully bid for the 700MHz, 2.3GHz, 3.5GHz and 26GHz frequency bands in national and regional blocks. The green light to companies kicks off the practical work around the implementation, which is supported by the companies’ pledge to invest 42 billion reais ($7.5 billion) to introduce the technology across the country. At the ceremony that took place on Tuesday (7), Bolsonaro’s 20-minute speech was mainly focused on aspects of the current administration that are unrelated to the new technology – such as his opposition to requiring evidence of COVID-19 vaccination from tourists entering Brazil. Specifically, in relation to the move towards the fifth generation technology standard for mobile broadband, the president was brief: “5G is fantastic. All capitals will have it by early next year; this is a leap for Brazil communications, and for the Internet of Things”, he said at the event. With the contracts signed, a working group composed by telecommunications agency Anatel, telecom operators and TV stations will deal with the activities around clearing the main slice of the spectrum, currently used for satellite dish reception systems. Under the Monitoring Group for the Implementation of Solutions for Interference Problems, which starts its activities tomorrow (10), the main goal is to free up the band between 3,625 to 3,700GHz, so that it can be used by operators and enable them to define the timescales around the launch of commercial 5G offerings. Claro, Vivo and TIM, Brazil’s three national mobile operators, secured the three lots available for the 3.5GHz band and are expected to spend 1.1 billion reais ($200 million) collectively in the implementation. 5G will bring 169 billion reais ($30 billion) to the Brazilian economy over the next 20 years, according to Anatel estimates.
