5G regulation and law in Brazil

The 5G auction, held between 4 and 5 November 2021 raised, according to estimates by the National Telecommunications Agency (“Anatel”), around BRL 47 billion, of which almost BRL 42 billion will be allocated to investments. Some states of Brazil have already launched the 5G in Brazil. According to the commitments established in the Anatel’s public notice for the concession of operating frequencies, the Brazilian capitals and the Federal District began having coverage from mid-2022 and the expansion to the other municipalities will happen gradually until the end period for adopting the technology. 

Currently, services provided to consumers have been offered at similar prices to 4G. 5G packages prices varies in accordance with the 5G infrastructures such as 5G DSS, 5G NSA (Non-Standalone), 5G SA (Standalone). Note, however, that smartphones that currently support the 5G technology are expensive in Brazil, so although packages have been offered at similar prices to 4G, it does not yet benefit most of the population in Brazil that cannot afford the prices of the supporting devices. 

Brazilian Agency for Industrial Development (“ABDI”) and WEG/V2COM signed a new partnership to continue carrying out practical tests of 5G network connectivity, this time based on Release-16 of 3GPP, which will allow for a more disruptive and adequate level to the use of networks for IoT services.

Tests in a real environment were set to start in December 2022 and will also be conducted by the Open Lab 5G WEG-V2COM project, established through a technical cooperation agreement signed between ABDI and the company WEG-V2COM. The implementation is monitored by Anatel, which, since 2020, has had a Technical Cooperation Agreement with ABDI to allow experiments to be carried out with private 5G networks in three environments: industry, agriculture and smart cities.

The first phase of tests in an industrial environment started in November 2020. Practical tests indicated that the fifth mobile generation offers, for industrial applications, superior performance to the Wi-Fi currently used, with greater reliability, network coverage and capacity for greater densification of the connection mesh. A report concluded that the technology is ripe for immediate adoption in manufacturing plants.

As for the economic viability of the technology, the experiments revealed that the cost/benefit ratio improves with the number of points connected in the industry. In general, the expectation of widespread adoption of industrial 5G will take place within a period of three years.

Infrastructure works have been done in Brazil to ensure access to frequencies. Once this is concluded, those frequencies shall be accessible to almost all premises. 

The first 5G public tender took place between 4,5 November 2021. Anatel auctioned several types of 5G compatible spectrum (ranges were 700MHz, 2,5 GHz, 3,5 GHz and 26 GHz). 

The criteria for awarding the tenders required minimum prices and undertakings for maintenance of   the price proposals and execution of commitments. 

The conditions for spectrum license involved a series of commitments such as (i) serve all 5,570 Brazilian municipal seats with 5G by July 2029; (ii) serve 1,700 non-municipal seats with 5G by 2030; (iii) serving 7,430 locations with 4G or superior technology by 2028; (iv) serve 2,349 stretches of highway with 4G, totaling 35,784 km (all paved federal highways) by 2029; (v) deploy fiber optic backhaul in 530 municipal seats by 2026; (vi) invest BRL 3,1 billion in public school connectivity. Those conditions form part of the Term of Authorisation for the use of radiofrequencies assumed by the winning companies. Conditions were provided in Annex IX of the 5G public notice. For more information, please access the public notice as follows: SEI/ANATEL - 7452039 - Edital

The minimum auction price was BRL 10,6 billion. The auction raised a total of BRL 46,7 billion by 10 winning bidders. Approximately 42 billion was allocated for investments. The 5G public notice provided that, for certain spectrum bands, the public price due by the winning bidders must be paid through investment commitments that vary for each lot.

Yes, there is a long-term spectrum plan. The Term of Authorisation was granted for 20 years.  Just after the auction, the Brazilian Communications Minister announced that the government could schedule a new 5G spectrum auction to sell batches that did not attract interest, mainly in the 26 GHZ range. However, no announcements for future tenders were made yet. 

Rules established for the 5G auction  in November 2021 demanded a series of gradual coverage targets and commitments  The coverage should start from the largest cities to smaller localities. 5G must be accessible in all localities by the end of 2029.

According to the timetable, all municipalities with at least 200,000 residents will have a 5G network by 31 July 2026, with at least one antenna per 15,000 residents. This includes municipalities with more than 100,000 residents by July 2027, and by the end of that year, at least 60% of municipalities with fewer than 30,000 residents should have 5G coverage.
 

The main issues with the 5G projects are related to infrastructure. 5G is in the installation infrastructure development stage, which will consist of a lengthy stage for all of Brazil. This is due to the fact that even in the few places where existing towers are used, it will still be necessary to pay for and install transmission antennas in rural environments, then, it can be even more challenging. 

The very lack of adequate legislation on land occupation in the municipalities also becomes a setback for the installation of towers and antennas since it is necessary to request authorization for each municipality.

There is a regulation that provides for spectrum sharing in Brazil (Anatel's resolution 671 of 3 November 2016), however, this is not specific to 5G. The possibility for spectrum sharing was provided in the Anatel’s public notice which states that radiofrequency sharing, when it does not imply harmful interference or impose limitations on the provision of the Personal Mobile Service – SMP, may be authorized by Anatel. 

We are unaware of 5G network sharing or spectrum sharing agreements currently in place, although this should be possible according to spectrum sharing regulation and the Anatel’s public notice as explained above. 

The rules for granting competitors access do the new 5G networks were all provided in the Anatel’s public notice. Please see some further information in point 7 above. 

Comments on 5G cybersecurity relate to impacts that the technology can cause such as a decrease of traffic visibility, an increased use of IoT that can create potential gaps in an organization’s cybersecurity, making it vulnerable for cyber-attacks, and some vulnerabilities of software. 

The Institutional Security Office
 (“GSI”) issued a Normative Instruction 4 of March 2020, which provided minimum standards for cybersecurity, once 5G is implemented. However, this Normative Instruction is currently being challenged. A proposed Bill 447/2020 aims to suspend this Normative Instruction. The author of the Bill, argues that the GSI only has powers to regulate cybersecurity within the scope of public administration, not being able to establish rules for the private sector. The bill is yet to be assessed by the Brazilian Congress. 
In relation to the possible use of Chinese technology, 5G auction could have a possible ban on the use of equipment from the Chinese giant Huawei by the winners of the auction lots. This ban ended up not happening and the auction winners will not be limited in the choice of their suppliers to structure the 5G network in Brazil.