Starting this Monday (2), telephone operators are free to install 5G technology in all municipalities in the country. Signal activation is possible after the total removal of interference that prevented signal activation in the 5,570 Brazilian municipalities.
On the 26th, the National Telecommunications Agency (Anatel) and the Band Administrative Entity (EAF) announced the “cleaning” of the 3.5 gigahertz (GHz) frequency band, destined for 5G. However, the signal was released this Monday.
Before the arrival of 5G in the country, this band was used by broadcasting and open television services via satellite, mainly by satellite dishes, which operated in Band C. This technology works in the range from 3.7 GHz to 6.4 GHz, very close to the 5G range.
Over the last few years, Anatel has acted on two fronts: in the migration of Band C and in the elimination of interference in the band close to 3.5 GHz. In relation to the migration, 1,482 professional satellite stations (FSS), used by broadcasters, were vacated radio and TV stations, distance learning institutions and even the Air Force, which operated in the Extended C Band. The process ended in March this year, two years ahead of schedule.
The second stage was cleaning the frequency, with the installation of filters on the satellite dishes to mitigate interference from the towers on mobile devices, and the distribution of around 4.3 million free conversion kits to families benefiting from federal social programs that depend on the traditional satellite dish to have access to open TV signal.
Timeline
The entire process was carried out by EAF, an entity that brings together the telephone operators that purchased the 5G signal. With the release of the band, operators can install 5G technology in any city in the country, but the auction notice only establishes activation in all municipalities in 2029.
The release of the signal was completed this Monday, with the elimination of interference in 190 municipalities in Bahia. The cleaning, Anatel and EAF reported, was completed 14 months in advance. Beneficiaries of government social programs can schedule the installation of the free kit by calling 0800-729-2404 or EAF website.
The C-Band signal cleanup used a similar partnership to that seen in the analog television shutdown. To free up the 700 megahertz (MHz) analog TV frequency for the adoption of 4G, cell phone operators bore the costs of distributing UHF antennas and converters for digital television to the poorest families.
