Musk becomes bait for Bolsonaro’s meeting with entrepreneurs in SP

Businessmen participating in the event promoted by the Minister of Communications, Fábio Faria (PSD-RN), at the Fasano hotel in Porto Feliz (SP) this Friday (20), did not count on the presence of President Jair Bolsonaro.

Until this Thursday night (19), when they were told that Bolsonaro would be present, they only expected the presence of billionaire Elon Musk, owner of Tesla and SpaceX.

THE Sheet heard part of the invited businessmen and authorities, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Many businessmen discussed with their advisors the possibility of canceling their trip to the event out of fear that they could be used politically to promote President Bolsonaro, who is running for reelection.

This concern was mentioned by telecommunications companies —directly involved in the 5G process and building networks in the Amazon—, a bank and another company that operates in investments and logistics.

For them, the risk would be to appear approving the government and the president’s re-election at a time when the dispute had not even started with polls of voting intentions showing the leadership of former president Lula (PT).

In the ministry’s invitation sent to government bodies and to the regulatory agency for the telecommunications sector, Anatel (National Telecommunications Agency), there is only the presence of Bolsonaro, without mentioning Musk.

The information was that there would be a speech by the president about connectivity policies in the Amazon and in schools — a counterpart to the investment imposed by the government on telephone operators that won the 5G auction at the end of last year.

Sought to explain the differences, the Minister of Communications had not responded until the publication of this report.

THE Sheet confirmed that among the guests are banker André Esteves (BTG Pactual), Alberto Leite (FS), Ricardo Faria (Granja Faria), Zeco Auriemo (JHSF), Flávio Rocha (Riachuelo), Carlos Sanchez (EMS), Rubens Ometto (Cosan), Rubens Menin (MTV and Inter), Carlos Fonseca (Galápagos), Rodrigo Abreu (Oi), José Félix (Claro), Pietro Labriola and Alberto Griselli (Tim), Jorge Moll Filho (Rede D’Or).

Operators and other businessmen were interested in the presence of Elon Musk, a billionaire who bought Twitter and is requesting authorizations from Anatel for its satellite network (SpaceX) to spread throughout Brazil, which would allow internet access through this platform to the Amazon, opening new business fronts in the region.

President Bolsonaro and Minister Fábio Faria even announced Musk’s interest on this front and a potential partnership.

This approach between the government and the billionaire, however, embarrasses Anatel, which is also considering allowing other giants that compete with Musk, such as Amazon, to also operate in the country.