3.5GHz band available in further 220 municipalities

By Anatel

This is a machine translation of the original press release issued in Portuguese.

From April 29, 2024, providers that acquired lots in the 3.5 GHz band will be able to request the National Telecommunications Agency (Anatel) to license and activate 5G stations in this band in a further 220 municipalities, according to a deliberation held in this Friday (26) at an Ordinary Meeting of the Monitoring Group for the Implementation of Solutions for Interference Problems in the band from 3,625 to 3,700 MHz (Gaispi).

"With the decision, there will be 3,898 municipalities with the 3.5 GHz band available for use by standalone 5G stations, totaling approximately 186.5 million Brazilians, which corresponds to approximately 87.4% of Brazil's population", he informed the president of Anatel and Gaispi, Carlos Baigorri.

To facilitate monitoring of released municipalities, Gaispi provides a data panel showing the municipalities in which the 3.5 GHz band is already released and also the planning approved by the Group for the next releases. It is important to highlight that the release of the band does not mean that 5G networks will be installed immediately in the locations: the early installation of fifth generation stations in these cities depends on the individual planning of each provider.

The decision taken by Gaispi follows guidelines from the 5G notice and covers municipalities in which the 3.5 GHz Band Administrative Entity (EAF) began the migration of free and open television signal reception through parabolic antennas in the satellite C band for the Ku band and completed the necessary actions to vacate this band by Fixed Satellite Service (FSS) systems, having installed filters to mitigate interference in all impacted FSS stations. EAF is a non-governmental and non-profit entity created by determination of Anatel to support the lower-income population in replacing old satellite dishes with new digital satellite dishes, completely free of charge.

It is also worth noting that on March 8, 2024, preventive mitigation activities were completed with the installation of filters in fixed satellite stations (FSS) operating in band C, almost two years ahead of schedule.

With the anticipation of these 220 municipalities, the States of Espírito Santo (ES), Maranhão (MA) and Sergipe (SE) are fully cleared for the activation of 5G stations in the 3.5 GHz band.

With this release, there are 12 Federation Units (AL, AP, DF, ES, MA, PR, RJ, RR, RS, SC, SE and SP) with all municipalities released.

At that same meeting, it was also decided for the EAF to carry out planning for the beginning of activities to migrate the reception of the open and free television signal through parabolic antennas in the satellite C band to the Ku band of Phase 6, corresponding to 1268 municipalities. . At the end of Phase 6, all municipalities in Brazil will be free to activate 5G stations in the 3.5 GHz band.

Anyone who receives Open TV broadcasts via a satellite dish needs to adapt the equipment to avoid possible interference. Those registered in the Single Registry for Social Programs of the Federal Government (CadÚnico) who receive a satellite TV signal can request a free kit to adapt the equipment to Siga Antenado, the trade name of the EAF.

It is worth noting that in April the EAF reached the milestone of more than 2.5 million open TV reception kits in the Ku band since the beginning of activities, having the capacity to install around 10 thousand kits per day.

It is essential that the eligible interested party schedules the installation of new equipment. More information is available on the Siga Antenado website. Telephone number 0800-729-2404 is also available.

The municipalities with the band already released, the cities, neighborhoods and the number of licensed 5G standalone stations in the 3.5 GHz band, as well as the cell phones certified for 5G use, can be consulted in the dashboards available on the dashboard. Anatel data:

https://informacoes.anatel.gov.br/paineis/espectro-e-orbita/gaispi-liberacao-e-planejamento-3-5-ghz

https://informacoes.anatel.gov.br/paineis/outorga-e-licenciamento/estacoes-do-smp

https://informacoes.anatel.gov.br/paineis/certificacao-de-produtos/celulares-em-5g