Confinement in China threatens 5G with delay of up to two months in Brazil

The recent round of confinement in China to try to contain new cases of Covid threatens the start of 5G operation in Brazil. The sale of packages, scheduled for the end of July in all capitals, may be delayed for up to two months, until September.

The group that monitors the implementation of the new service by Anatel (National Telecommunications Agency) decided, this Wednesday (11), to forward to the agency’s board of directors a recommendation to allow a grace period of up to two months in the original schedule, without punishment foreseen for the company.

This possibility was already foreseen in the auction notice and, according to Gaispi (the Monitoring Group for the Implementation of Solutions for Interference Problems), “the lockdown in China, the shortage of semiconductors, the limitations of air transport and the delay in clearance customs brought impacts to the project”.

The group is led by Anatel advisor Moisés Moreira and has representatives from the sector responsible for the start of 5G in the country.

The telecoms, which will have to build the new networks, claim that there was a delay in sending network equipment and filters capable of shielding the new frequency range from interference due to confinement.

Frequencies are avenues in the air through which operators carry their signals. Outside of them, interference occurs.

Next week, Anatel’s board of directors should meet, on an extraordinary basis, to evaluate the measure. People who participate in the discussions say that there will hardly be resistance to the additional deadline.

If it accepts the recommendation, Anatel will allow each state capital to adopt a different schedule with a maximum deadline for the start of operations at the end of September.

This, however, does not prevent the service from starting earlier, or even within the initially defined period, if there is a technical condition.

The 5G considered by Anatel, however, does not refer to what is already being offered by operators.

The so-called “pure blood” 5G will have to be provided on an entirely new network and in the 3.5 GHz (gigahertz) frequency bands — today exploited by broadcasting and satellites.

The deadline for the release of this band was, originally, June 30 and the deadline for the fulfillment of the first obligation targets by the operators was July 31 – precisely the activation of antennas in the proportion of one for every 100 thousand inhabitants in the 26 capitals and the District Federal.

China is the main supplier of equipment for the 5G network and Huawei is its largest manufacturer. It maintains contracts with the largest operators in Brazil for the supply of inputs.

The country, however, has again restricted and confined millions of people in its territory to try to contain the new outbreaks of Covid in the country.

With a moving average of cases of approximately 22,000, the Asian government tries to limit the movement of people as much as possible in order to achieve its goal of “zero Covid”.

As a result, megalopolises such as the capital Beijing, with 21.5 million people, and Shanghai, the country’s largest city, with 25 million, have imposed lockdowns and contact tracing to try to reduce new cases and deaths.