TCU wants state plan against internet inequality – 04/19/2023 – Market

An audit carried out by the TCU (Tribunal de Contas da União) reveals that, in the name of the massification of the internet, public telecommunications policy is at the mercy of frequency auctions, such as 5G, and the exchange of fines for investments, among other policies defined by the Anatel (National Telecommunications Agency).

In the opinion of court technicians, this helps to perpetuate distortions in internet access, which still prioritizes the wealthier classes.

The process, reported by Minister Walton Alencar, will be judged this Wednesday (19). The plenary must approve it and present recommendations to the Ministry of Communications to prepare an integrated strategic plan to solve, once and for all, the disparities that still exist in telecommunications more than two decades after the privatization of Telebras.

At the time of privatization, the idea was to use Fust (Fund for the Universalization of Telecommunications Services) to take the infrastructure for access to telephone services to areas farther away from large urban centers and with less commercial potential for operators.

This model was perverted by the systematic use of resources collected from telecoms billing (and directed to Fust) to reduce public debt and help meet primary surplus targets.

The result of this was that most of the investments in the sector related to the popularization of services, especially the internet, were concentrated in investment commitments resulting from the auctions of cellular telephony frequency.

According to the TCU report, between 2007 and 2021, Anatel (National Telecommunications Agency) held 16 frequency auctions (avenues in the air through which telecoms make their data travel) whose value collected would be R$ 79.8 billion.

However, in order to encourage investment and accelerate the installation of infrastructure in the most remote locations, the agency —with government backing— exchanged that money for mandatory investment commitments of around R$ 78 billion (in values ​​corrected for inflation by TCU technicians ).

For Minister Walton Alencar, even giving up so many resources, the country is still skating in the democratization of internet access.

“There is still a lot of disparity in the supply, quality and access to broadband internet between regions and locations in the country, neighborhoods in the same city and social classes. In this sense, public policy needs to move towards greater digital inclusion of Brazilian society “, says the minister in his report.

According to him, 82% of Brazilian households have internet access, with 83% in urban areas and 71% in rural areas.

The data also reveal an inequality of households connected in different economic classes. While class A households are fully connected (100%), only 61% of households in classes D and E have internet access. Connected class B households accounted for 98% and class C households for 89%.

By region of the country, the highest percentages of households that do not have internet access are those in the Northeast (22%) and North (20%) regions.

Regarding the Terms of Conduct Adjustment (TACs), the TCU also pointed out Anatel’s excessive benevolence in allowing companies to exchange fines for investments by choosing up to 40% of the locations where they would install infrastructure or improve data flow capacity.

This may have generated duplication of investments in places where companies had already been investing, especially in large urban centers — further accentuating the disparity in access and service conditions in poorer regions.

In his vote, minister Walton Alencar should recommend that the Ministry of Communications prepare a long-term strategic plan to correct these distortions, preventing only regulatory policies implemented by Anatel from working as a guiding principle for investments in the sector.