Brazil opened an international tender on Thursday to build one of the world’s largest 5G data networks, seeking a $9 billion investment for Latin America’s largest economy. Calling it a “historic” moment, President Jair Bolsonaro opened the tender in Brasilia with the symbolic bang of the auctioneer’s hammer, bidding by 15 companies that officials said could last until Friday.
The vast South American country is looking to take advantage of so-called fifth-generation mobile technology to accelerate the growth of its industrial and agribusiness sectors, as well as to bring super-fast Internet to the cell phones of its 213 million people. The tender is for the right to build and operate different “blocks” of frequency spectrum for 20 years, as well as a separate network that will be reserved for government communications.
A bid for the latter would take out all equipment from Chinese telecom giant Huawei, the target of US espionage allegations that have put Brazil in a bind, forcing it to navigate a technical standoff between China and the United States. It is done. The world’s two biggest powers are also Brazil’s two biggest trading partners, and the country has been under pressure from both sides over the ground rules for its 5G network, causing it to initially postpone tenders until early 2021.
As of Thursday afternoon, Brazil had secured $1.1 billion in investments from winning bidders, including TIM, a local subsidiary of Telecom Italia; the Brazilian unit of the Spanish conglomerate Telefónica; and Claro, owned by Mexican telecom magnate Carlos Slim’s America Move. Four of the 18 frequencies for Grab failed to attract bids.
“This is one of the largest 5G tenders in the world. The potential is enormous,” Christian Perón, an industry expert at the Institute of Technology and Society in Rio de Janeiro, told AFP. The government is seeking a total investment of 50 billion reais ($9 billion): 40 billion to build a 5G network. Resis – one of Latin America’s first – and believes 10 billion it will pocket for frequency rights and use to boost connectivity for public schools.
5G technology requires four to 10 times more antennas than 4G. Bidding terms require the winning companies to start service in Brasilia and 26 state capitals by August 2022. Other cities of more than 30,000 people can expect service between 2025 and 2028.
Running Back: Brazil hopes 5G technology will open up new horizons for its economy, from connected tractors and crop monitoring drones for the agriculture sector to self-driving cars and telemedicine that gaps across the vast country’s infrastructure. are to be bridged.
“Consumers will not see that much of a difference, other than faster download times for movies and videos. But from an industry point of view, it is going to open up a whole new reality for factories, agribusiness, the productive sector,” Connexis Brasil Digital said of Marcos Ferrari, a group representing the five bidding firms. Communications Minister Fabio Faria said the deployment of 5G would have a “major impact” on Brazil’s economic growth over the next decade.
However, Brazil has been relatively late in introducing mobile connectivity to the country’s most remote areas. About 40 million people in Brazil still have no internet access, according to the National Statistical Institute IBGE in 2019, the most recent data available.
Winning bidders must commit to bringing mobile connectivity to public schools and non-served areas in the Amazon Basin and to increasing coverage along highways. “I visit indigenous communities, and what do people ask for? The Internet,” Bolsonaro told the opening ceremony.
“And it’s not just indigenous people. More than 10,000 rural areas could have access to the Internet, integrating them with Brazil and the rest of the world.”
Perón said Brazil is two to three years behind other major economies in implementing 5G. “While the rest of the world is rolling out 6G, we will continue to install our 5G network,” he said.
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