Companies give in and agree to install cell phone antennas on the outskirts of SP

The cell phone companies presented to the mayor of São Paulo, Ricardo Nunes (MDB), this Tuesday (14), the plan to install 286 antennas in neighborhoods on the outskirts of the city where there are failures in the transmission of the internet signal. The implementation period is up to one year.

The plan should integrate as a substitute for the bill that will regulate the installation of mobile telephone and mobile internet signal transmission equipment. It is expected to be considered in a second vote this Tuesday in a plenary session of the City Council.

The inclusion of the so-called priority areas in the text of the law was the target of a series of clashes between the sector, the Executive and the Municipal Legislature.

Councilors postponed the second vote on the text due to the lack of concrete signals from the companies that the peripheral neighborhoods would be included in the cell phone expansion plan.

Approved unanimously in the first round in June at the Casa, the text was reformulated and the government’s leadership included a counterpart in the form of a discount in the payment of the grant for operators that install antennas in the peripheral areas of the capital of São Paulo.

According to the new text, the city will establish “differentiated licensing incentives and conditions” for companies that install antennas in peripheral areas.

Installations in priority regions will have a discount of up to 50% on the licensing charged by the municipal administration.

At this Tuesday’s meeting, the companies pledged to install 101 antennas in the north, 104 in the south and 81 in the east, totaling 286 pieces of equipment. The installations must be completed within 90 days after the city hall releases the permit.

In the minutes of the meeting, however, the companies made the installation of antennas in the periphery conditional on meeting the “technical needs of telecommunications networks” in the bill to be approved, without giving further details.

The priority neighborhoods were defined by the municipal departments of Health and Education. In these places, the lack of signal hinders, for example, access to electronic medical records at health centers and the online study of students from the municipal network.

According to the city hall, there are ten districts in São Paulo without internet coverage, and around 100,000 students in the municipal network do not have access to online classes.

In the southern zone, the neighborhoods served in the replacement of the bill are Jardim São Luís, Pedreira, Cidade Dutra, Jardim Ângela, Grajaú, Parelheiros, Marsilac, Santo Amaro and Socorro.

In the northern zone, the listed neighborhoods are Anhanguera, Perus, Jaraguá, Pirituba, Brasilândia, Cachoerinha, Mandaqui and Tremembé.

In the east side, priority will be given to the districts of Jardim Helena, Lageado, Guaianases, José Bonifácio, Parque do Carmo, Cidade Tiradentes, Iguatemi, São Rafael, Sapopemba, Itaquera and Ermelino Matarazzo.

The discussion on the subject in the City Council has dragged on since the administration of João Doria (PSDB) and Bruno Covas (PSDB). The project, made by the Executive, was created to simplify the licensing of ERBs (radio base stations), mobile ERBs (mobile radio base stations) and mini ERBs (small radio base stations) used to transmit the telephone signal mobile and mobile internet 3G and 4G and for the future rollout of 5G.

Considered outdated by the telecommunications sector, the law that regulates the installation of antennas in the city of São Paulo dates back to 2004 and was considered unconstitutional by the STF (Supreme Federal Court).