There’s a new MVNO about to enter the market in Brazil after Unifique received authorisation from regulator Anatel to launch in most of the country.
The permission given by Anatel is for an indefinite period and valid for the entire national territory, except for the states of Santa Catarina and Rio Grande do Sul, where the company already acts as a traditional operator by holding 5G licenses.
However, the activation of the MVNO, it is worth remembering, can’t rely on network infrastructure owned by Unifique. As the Unifique site says: “All our customers will be able to connect throughout Brazil via the network of another partner operator.” It’s not clear which network the new arrival will be using.
According to news site Tele.Síntese, Unifique had approximate 31,600 mobile phone customers at the end of the second quarter. Its 5G network is available in five cities of Santa Catarina. In Rio Grande do Sul, the operation began this month.
The CEO of Unifique, Fabiano Busnardo, has already indicated that the company plans to accelerate the activation of 5G in the second half of this year, aiming to cover a territory of three million people.
Broadband services, however, are the company's flagship operation. At the end of the second quarter, Unifique had 761,500 fixed broadband customers. The base grew 10.4% compared to the same period last year.
Brazil already has well over 100 MVNOs, albeit quite a few are said to operate in niche markets.