TCU agrees to 5G auction notice; The winner must install a private network for the government | Economie

a National Communications Agency Anatel was awaiting court analysis to make adjustments to the notice and auction scheduling, Due in October.

• G1 Special: 5G Guide with FAQ

In the 5G auction, four 5G mobile internet frequency bands will be offered: 700MHz; 2.3 GHz 26 GHz and 3.5 GHz These bands act as “roads” in the air to transmit data.

The grant period, i.e. the right to exploit the domains, will be from 20 years. The auction will be held in 16 knots, divided between national and regional plots.

The gangs have investment commitments in return. These are the obligations that auction-winning operators have to fulfill, such as bringing the Internet to the country’s highways and to isolated places, among other things.

Judgment on the 5G operation began last week, when ministers formed a majority in favor of agreeing to the notice, but a request for a view (more time for analysis) by Minister Aroldo Cedraz. trial order for this fourth.

Cedras was the only minister who accompanied the technical field of the court that He mentioned a series of irregularities in the notice. The minister wanted the ruling to be postponed by 60 days, but other ministers reduced the deadline to one week, in response to the government’s request to speed up the auction.

“It is necessary to consider that the real delay would be to allow the bidding process to proceed along the proposed lines, because in this case, we will condemn Brazil and Brazilian citizens to live for another 20 years with expensive and low-quality communication services,” Cedras said in a vote issued last week.

On Wednesday, in an unusual move in court sessions, The Minister made a long presentation of slides to justify his vote. On the slides, Cedraz noted major irregularities in the notice, such as errors in the frequency band pricing methodology, in the number of radio base stations that should be installed, in the urban classification, among others.

“The modeling adopted by Anatel has led us to conclude that the economic exploitation of 5G will be unfeasible in 5,510 Brazilian municipalities, including capital cities such as Brasilia, Salvador and Curitiba, as well as large cities such as Campinas and Ribeirao Preto,” Cedraz said. . “This bid offer is riddled with errors, not to mention fraud,” he added.

The Operation Rapporteur at the TCU, Minister Raimundo Carreiro recommended the inclusion of Commitment to bringing high-quality mobile internet to public schools primary education in the country. This is a request from the House of Representatives Education Authority.

Last week, he had voted to limit the schools’ inclusion, which would force Anatel to change the notice. Since it is only a recommendation, it will be at the discretion of the agency and government.

The Ministry of Communications said in a statement that it would accept the recommendation. “We, from the Ministry of Communications, will accept this recommendation as a decision and will implement the general policy.” For this purpose, the fines and grant values ​​will be used to enhance the service provided to schools, according to the ministry.

The Rapporteur also decided to keep public the announcement of the installation of a private communications network for the government and the installation of a fiber-optic network in the Amazon region, the so-called Integrated and Sustainable Amazon Program (Parents), which is part of the “Norte Conectado” program.

Carreiro contradicted the technical area of ​​the court, which Recommended exclusion of the two obligations. According to the technicians, the two undertakings violate the General Communications Act, bidding rules, budget rules and financial rules.

In April, it was Globo TV Show that the maneuver opens a loophole for The government invests up to R$2.5 billion “outside” the spending cap and budget, because it will pass this cost on to the operators.

For Carreiro, the Special Network and the Pais Program are exceptional measures to be adopted from the “relevant collective interest”, translating the choice of “the executive in the case of public policy making”.

Building a private communications network in Brasilia is a priority for the government. The Chinese company Huawei will not be able to provide the necessary equipment to install this special network, due to the rules in the notice. For commercial frequency bands, there will be no hindrance.

The four teams to be auctioned in the 5G tender were initially valued by Anatel at R$45.6 billion, of which R$37.1 billion was converted into investment commitments. With that said, initial expectations were that the federation would pool the difference, about R$8.5 billion.

However, the numbers may change until the notice is published by Anatel, as the agency will have to make some adjustments to requests from court ministers.

In the 5G auction, phone operators will compete for the right to explore frequency bands. Then, the winners will have to purchase the equipment necessary to deliver the technology to their clients, as well as make the investments stipulated in the notice in return.