With Auction Delays, Operators Project 5G in Brazil Only in 2021

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – With the process still undergoing analysis by ANATEL (National Telecommunications Agency), the publication of the public bid notice is expected to occur only in the second half of 2020 and commercial operations to begin in 2021.

For Amadeu Castro, director of GSMA, an organization that includes companies and operators in the mobile Internet sector, this estimate is optimistic.

He believes an 18-month period will run between the publication of the bid notice, the public consultation, the setting of prices by the Federal Court of Auditors and the holding of the auction.

“Nothing will happen in the first half of 2020. Should all go as expected, without delays, we will see the commercial operation of 5G in some large cities or for some applications in 2021”.

The delay did not come as a surprise to the industry, since the sector had been following the process closely.

Juelinton Silveira, Huawei’s Director of Government Business and Communications, says the technology for network development is ready – although regulation is lacking.

According to him, Huawei has been talking to a number of operators but does not comment on specific agreements.

The director also says he believes that the blockade of Chinese big tech in the United States, Brazil’s preferred partner, will not affect the country.

“Huawei has been in Brazil for 21 years and works with companies and governments. It’s a relationship of friendship that we don’t believe will be lost by political quarrels outside Brazil,” he says.

In July, Ericsson released a study that estimates that the advent of 5G in Brazil should generate R$10 billion (US$2.5 billion) in direct investments in the sector. The company projects a loss of R$25 billion in taxes by 2025 should the auction be postponed by one year.

“I don’t believe that operators will wait for the auction to start building their networks, so we should have investments in the industry throughout 2020. With the auction taking place in the second half of the year, we will reach the end of the year with something in operation.”

“We can expect 5G in the 2020 Christmas advertising campaigns”, says Paulo Bernardocki, Ericsson’s Director of Network Solutions and Technology.

For Sandro Tavares, marketing director of Nokia, operators should only start building networks after the official determination of the auction model, since the very planning of this network relies on it.

“We need frequencies to be awarded for the development of 5G in the country. It is in the industry’s and the country’s interest that it be solved as soon as possible, because it implies the competitiveness of Brazil in the long and medium-term.”

Source: Folhapress

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