Brazil advancing 5G spectrum allocation discussions

Brazil wants to bring forward the discussions of spectrum allocation for 5G even before the formal definition of a standard by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), which is expected to take place at the 2019 World Radio Communications (WRC-19) congress.

The country wants to submit to public consultation the use of higher bands, between the 26Ghz-40Ghz channels, eventually even auctioning some of them, said Igor Vilas Boas, board member of telecom watchdog Anatel.

These channels, according to global industry discussions and preliminary standard talks, are the most likely candidates to host 5G.

Vilas Boas said that working groups within Anatel have discussed technical and spectrum management issues (such as freeing up bands) in order to reach a Brazilian consensus before the global conference.

"These definitions cannot wait long. We should get closer to WRC-19 with decisions having been made or some bands released so that the future implementation of technology does not take long to reach society," Vilas Boas said during the Road to 5G panel at the Futurecom conference taking place in São Paulo.

He believes the issue can be advanced in the first semester of 2018. Commercial 5G networks are forecast to become a global reality by the end of 2019.

But this process might not be enough. Higher bands usually require more antennas to cover the same area. In Brazil, even with the approval of an antennas law a couple of years ago, municipal delays in issuing licenses for this infrastructure remain a problem.

Villas Boas said he expects congress to work to reduce the tax rates for critical telecom infrastructure, especially towers and electronics, "which will be key for the 5G and the internet of things."

According to ICT ministry telecom secretary André Borges, operators need to share more infrastructure, particularly network elements such as fiber and optical rings.

Borges said freeing up of bands for the expansion of telephony services is fundamental for 5G. The nationwide shutdown of the analog TV signal to release the 700MHz bands for 4G technology can serve as a model for the next generation of internet technology, Borges added at the panel.

"We still have 40mn 2G users in Brazil and 16mn M2M connections, also in 2G, all of which are burning, wasting radio spectrum. I call on the ministry, Anatel and industry to make a joint effort to migrate these 2G users to 4G," said Qualcomm LatAm VP Rafael Steinhauser.

One of the ministry's ideas is to re-farm the bands currently used for 2G (between the 900MHz-1.8GHz), a low frequency with a wide range, suitable to covering large areas by combining it with 5G's high frequency in a rural environment.

"We could combine with lower frequencies in rural areas as we are doing with 4G," said Wilson Cardoso, technology director at Nokia in Latin America, referring to the technology that runs over 700MHz, a lower band, and over 2.6GHz. He calls for using the 600MHz band for rural 5G, as is done in the United States.

Releasing additional spectrum for mobile operators, at an accessible cost, will be crucial for the expansion of mobile telephony, said Mohamed Madkour, marketing VP for mobile networks of Nokia's rival Huawei, during a press conference.

Cardoso, for his part, recalled that because of its likely higher bands, 5G will require lots of antennas to scale the technology, which will pressure telcos' capex and opex.

In fact, according to Gianluca Noya, global managing director of mobile network practice at Accenture, 5G will require around two to three times more capex than 4G, reinforcing the point brought up by Borges about the need for Brazilian telcos to share their infrastructure.

Leonardo Capdeville, chief technology officer at TIM Brasil, said that the telco is assessing with Anatel the possibility of using the 3.5Ghz spectrum to improve mobile broadband transmission for 4G, which could be beneficial for 5G as well.

The company received the go-ahead from Anatel to run interference tests on this band.