Brazilian regulator Anatel has approved a set of rules that will pave the way towards the country’s highly anticipated 5G spectrum auction.
While the details of the rules have not been fully revealed, according to Reuters the terms stipulate that operators must not rely on DSS (dynamic spectrum sharing, allowing 4G and 5G networks to operate on the same frequency band) and must instead deploy Standalone (SA) 5G networks by 2022.
As reported by TeleGeography, the Ministry of Science, Technology, Innovations and Communications approved Brazil’s 5G auction process in February 2020, with airwaves in the 700MHz, 2.3GHz and 3.5GHz bands set for sale alongside 26GHz mmWave spectrum. The date of the auction has slipped back as a result of the ongoing pandemic but the sale is currently slated to take place by the end of June 2021.
Separately, Reuters noted that despite mounting speculation Anatel opted not to implement any restrictions on the use of Huawei’s 5G network equipment, meaning that the Chinese vendor is likely to play a part in the commercial deployment of 5G technology across Brazil.
Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro has spoken out against Huawei in the past and was associated with former US President Trump, whose administration led an international campaign against using network equipment from China in general and Huawei in particular, claiming that it posed a security risk.
In response to this, Brazilian operators countered that it would cost billions of dollars to replace already-deployed Huawei equipment, estimating that they Chinese vendor accounted for a collective 50% of their 3G and 4G infrastructure.
