The Minister of Communications, Fábio Faria, said today (4) that he believes that the collection value of the 5G auction should exceed the R$50 billion initially forecast. During live President Jair Bolsonaro’s weekly, Faria classified the auction as the largest in the sector in all of Latin America.
“We are, today, at an estimated value of R$50 billion. It should end tomorrow (5) in the morning. Before the live, it was already at R$43 billion. It will exceed R$ 50 billion. Until tomorrow, we have this number. It is the largest auction in the history of telecommunications in all of Latin America. This shows that Brazil, when it wants to work and do it well, it does it.”
According to the minister, in January 2019, nearly 50 million Brazilians did not have internet access. Of these, 9 million are now connected, including 500 indigenous villages and more than 10 thousand schools, totaling 15 thousand internet points installed in the country.
“But we can’t take the internet all over Brazil with only wi-fi. Even because Brazil is very big and fiber optic internet is much better. We are going to hold the auction and Brazil will be the first country in Latin America to put the 5G up and running,” he said
The minister pointed out that the auction format is non-collective. “R$50 billion will enter the fund – R$10 billion will remain for the government and R$40 billion will go to the telecommunications sector, to bring the internet to the 40 million people who don’t have it. In these 9,800 locations without internet, zero, internet will reach everyone and of high quality”, he added.
Roads and Agribusiness
According to the minister, the forecast is that, in the North Region, the country’s largest digital desert, 10 million people will be connected. Federal roads, according to him, should also be covered and receive internet points.
“It’s a truck drivers’ agenda, a claim that helps to avoid accidents, robberies. And 5G will connect the entire agribusiness. The flow of production that goes by road will be 100% connected to the port and the airport”.
Schools
Ministry data show that there are, in Brazil, around 7,000 urban schools without internet at the moment. The government’s proposal is that they start to be connected through the amount collected in the 5G auction.
“Of the 85 thousand schools that exist in the urban area, 72 thousand will receive standalone 5G internet”, concluded Faria, referring to the so-called pure 5G, which allows faster connection speed, among other advantages.
