Bolsonaro starts the 5G auction and makes political use of the technology

At the start for the 5G auction, President Jair Bolsonaro (no party), said, on Thursday (4), that the arrival of the internet in places that are currently unconnected in the Amazon will allow the Indians themselves to show the world how the government treats the forest.

“I was in Italy and when I went to visit the tower of Pisa [Bolsonaro disse Torre de Pizza], a boy asked me if the Amazon is on fire,” he said.

“On one of my trips to the Amazon with the [ministro das Comunicações] Fábio Faria, we went through indigenous communities, toucans and Yanomami. What did they ask for? They asked for internet. And they’re going to start making an article on the Amazon and sending it out. It won’t be like the fake news factory [referência à imprensa] that we have here in Brazil, that we know how it works.”

Bolsonaro spoke shortly after Minister Fábio Faria (PSD-RN), who highlighted the government’s role in delivering a technology that will allow economic growth and the offer of internet to around 40 million Brazilians who currently do not have any type of access the net.

In a campaigning tone, the minister said that the event, the largest ever held in the world due to the number of frequencies, will place the country on another technological level and reaffirmed that this was only possible thanks to the efforts of the Bolsonaro government.

“I took over the ministry in June of last year and the president said ‘I have a mission for you, Faria. Bring internet to Brazilians,'” said the minister.

“You can count on me to deliver a much better Brazil than we received,” he added.

Faria also used the occasion to advocate for salary increases for advisers to regulatory agencies.

“It is important for us to be able to see in Congress and in the government so that we can make these councilors have a more relevant salary, given the challenges they have, not only at Anatel, but in all agencies,” he said. .

Frequencies are like avenues in the air through which telecoms make their data travel. Outside these ways, interference occurs. In all, Anatel is auctioning off 3.71 GHz (gigahertz) divided into four frequencies —700 MHz (megahertz); 2.3 GHz (gigahertz); 3.5 GHz and 26 GHz.

These frequencies were separated into 183 lots and together are valued at R$49 billion. This amount, however, should not be paid by the winners who, in return, will commit to making mandatory investments in the massification of 4G, for example, and in the construction of a private network for the government – a way found to avoid restriction or ban Chinese company Huawei in the sale of 5G equipment for telecoms. Together, these commitments reach R$ 40 billion.

In other words, in practice, the government should receive around R$ 9 billion in the auction.

Fifteen companies were authorized to bid. It is expected, however, that the greatest competition will occur on 4G frequencies (which allow covering larger areas).

The expectation is that only batches of the 700 MHz and 3.5 GHz bands will be auctioned this Thursday (4). The others (2.3 and 26 GHz) must stay for Friday (5).

Included in the PPI (Investment Partnership Program), the 5G auction will reinforce the list of concessions made by the government and will be used by Jair Bolsonaro as a political platform during the campaign for re-election in 2022.

There will be at least R$ 40 billion in mandatory investments over twenty years to massify 4G coverage and reinforce the cities’ connection infrastructure, not counting the resources that will be allocated to the 5G network itself.

By July 2022, fifth-generation telephone service should be available in all national capitals. The government insisted that this schedule be maintained even with a slight delay in the approval of the notice.

The Minister of Communications pressured Anatel (National Telecommunications Agency) and the TCU (Court of Accounts of the Union) for the analysis of the rules of the notice to be carried out in time for the auction to take place this year — and already with a delay of more than one year.

The initial idea was for the auction to be held at the end of last year.

Another requirement of the minister, taken over by President Bolsonaro, was the technological standard to be imposed on the new networks.

Operators intended to use the current networks by adding 5G equipment over them, but Anatel, under the guidance of the Ministry, imposed a more modern standard, the so-called “release 16”, which requires the construction of totally independent networks from the current ones dedicated exclusively to 5G.

Bolsonaro even said publicly that with this network it would be possible to stimulate the economy through new applications, such as telemedicine (with remote care and surgery, for example), guided cars, intelligent factories and fully connected crops.

These modalities should increase not only the economy’s productivity but also generate more wealth. Specialized telecommunications consultants estimate that Brazil’s GDP could grow by up to R$6.5 trillion over three decades if 5G is implemented in its most modern version.

Bolsonaro, which has not delivered structural reforms so far, is experiencing problems in the conduct of the pandemic, and is showing a drop in popularity, is looking for good news to try to make it viable for re-election, and the arrival of 5G is one of them.