ApexBrasil wants big techs to pay for 5G infrastructure – 03/01/2023 – Tech

President of ApexBrasil (Brazilian Trade and Investment Promotion Agency), former Senator Jorge Viana (PT) stated that it would be fair for large technology companies to share part of the bill for telephony infrastructure.

Apex serves to attract foreign investment to strategic sectors in Brazil, and is linked to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Viana was participating in the launch of a study by Softex (Association for the Promotion of Excellence in Brazilian Software) in partnership with Huawei on the adoption of fixed 5G networks in Brazil.

“It’s fair that big techs pay [parte dos investimentos]”, said the petista. “If not, the account does not close.”

He mentioned that most of the use of this network is made by these companies. “Money they are earning. They have to pay to use the infrastructure of a country that almost doesn’t have it.”

The theme became one of the main discussions during the MWC (Mobile World Congress), which takes place this week in Barcelona. The telephony sector alleges that expected technological transformations for the coming years, such as the metaverse, bring an expectation of exponential growth in data traffic demand, which is already high.

They are asking for what they call “fair sharing” of costs with big techs, who are most responsible for using telecom networks.

On Thursday (23), the European Commission, the executive arm of the European Union, opened a public consultation on the subject of “fair sharing”, open until May 19.

Representatives of the technology company argue that the payment would reduce its ability to invest in new products, hurting consumers and the phone companies themselves. They also say that the telecom sector benefits from the content of big techs to sell internet plans.

5G FIXED

The study places Brazil in the early stages of deploying 5G fiber optic networks and maps solutions adopted by other countries to advance in this modality.

“The objective is to stimulate the adoption of the massive use of fiber”, stated Viana.

The study cites that the average broadband speed in Brazil went from 18.7 to 88.7 Mbps (megabits per second) between 2017 and 2020. The goal is to reach 150 by 2023.

The study, however, cites challenges for Brazil to enter a full fiber coverage market. One of them is the imbalance: while the modality is well established in some southern states, it is much more scarce in other regions.

Journalist traveled at the invitation of Huawei.