Brazil’s telecom regulator Anatel approved a proposal to assess market interest through a public consultation for the use of 1.9 GHz, 2.5 GHz, and 39.5 GHz bands for broadband services.
Considered a millimeter Wave band (extremely high frequencies, above 24GHz), the 39.5GHz band has been increasingly used in several countries for applications in fixed wireless 5G and WiFi 6, Anatel said.
The 1.9GHz and 2.5GHz bands, in turn, were meant for 3G and 4G technologies in previous tenders and the goal is that remaining lots be awarded in a “leftover” auction.
In a press conference on Thursday about mmWave bands, Qualcomm’s business development director in Brazil, Helio Oyama, said that these frequencies can provide speeds of up to 26Gb/s with a bandwidth of around 400MHz.
For comparison, the fastest 4G in Brazil, according to an analysis by OpenSignal, is offered by Claro, with an average download speed of 23.4Mb/s. Fiber optics broadband, in turn, offer home user speeds that can reach 2Gb/s.
"That's why it is said that 5G can be the last-mile of fiber optics, replacing the latter in the connection to customer's home," said Oyama.
With the consultation, Anatel wants to know if there is enough demand for an auction of all those frequencies.
In an auction expected to take place in the first half next year, Brazil will sell blocks of spectrum in the 700MHz (leftovers from the 4G auction), 2.3GHz, 3.5GHz and 26GHz bands, the latter two aimed at 5G technology.
Anatel also approved the use of two blocks of 30MHz in the 1.9-2GHz and 2.1-2.2GHz ranges, the so-called S bands, for mobile telephony, fixed broadband, fixed telephony and global satellite services.
“With the approval of the resolution that promotes the multi-use of the band, the way is paved to guarantee a more rational and efficient use of the spectrum in the future,” Anatel said.
However, the conditions of use of the band involving political-regulatory issues will be defined in another resolution, to be followed by the definition of the technical and operational requirements applicable to the band, the regulator said.
Source: https://www.bnamericas.com/en/news/brazil-to-consult-on-awarding-further-spectrum-for-4g-5g