Brazil’s National Telecommunications Agency (Agencia Nacional de Telecomunicacoes, Anatel) has selected US-based Viavi Solutions to evaluate and test 5G-suitable spectrum ahead of the multi-band spectrum auction that will take place in 2020.
The planned auction is expected to be the biggest in the history of Anatel, and involve the 700MHz, 2.3GHz, 2.5GHz and 26GHz frequency bands. As per the press release, the government does not plan to generate revenue from the bids but will instead seek investment commitments from bidders with deadlines for network implementation, as well as coverage and capacity goals that must be met.
Viavi – which will provide the watchdog with its CellAdvisor portfolio of base station analysers to measure and troubleshoot 4G and 5G signals – explains: ‘Peculiarities in frequency spectrum distribution in Brazil necessitate spectral analysis of 5G new radio (NR) access technology.’