Call for more CDMA in Brazil
cellular-news.com
The CDMA Development Group (CDG) says that it sent a letter to Luis Guilherme Schymura de Oliveira, president of the Brazilian telecoms regulator, Anatel urging Anatel to act consistently with Resolution 314 and allow a secondary allocation for mobile services in the 1.9 GHz band in Brazil. The letter to the Brazilian regulator was endorsed by leading service providers and manufacturer member companies from around the world.
"The CDG has consistently supported flexible policies that allow operators to determine how to use their spectrum most efficiently without mandating a specific technology," said Perry LaForge, executive director for the CDG. "Anatel has been a strong advocate of such policies in the past, which helped to establish Brazil as a leading market for advanced wireless services in the region and as a major exporter of telecommunications equipment. We urge Anatel to continue to create and maintain regulatory policies that permit operators the flexibility to provide affordable and advanced mobile services to Brazilian consumers."
The CDG cites two examples of how Brazil has benefited from the flexible policies adopted by Anatel in the past. First, because Anatel allowed wireless services providers to upgrade their networks within their current spectrum, Brazil was the first market in Latin America to deploy advanced services based on the IMT-2000 (3G) standard. Second, the auctions of the 800 MHz band for SMC services, in which operators were able to choose which technology to deploy, raised US$14 billion -- almost fourteen times the amount of the SMP auctions when operators had no technology choice, and stimulated an additional US$15 billion investment in local manufacturing capabilities. As a result of these investments, Brazil has become a major exporter of TDMA and CDMA equipment to North and South America.
Resolution 314 was adopted after an extensive public consultation process last year, and gives operators the option of using a secondary allocation for mobile services in the 1.9 GHz band. However, when Vesper and Brasil Telecom applied earlier this year for authorization to use these frequencies to provide advanced mobile telecommunications services to their customers, their requests were denied.
"The CDG firmly supports Vesper and Brazil Telecom's requests to provide mobile services in accordance with Resolution 314," continued LaForge. "Regulatory consistency must be maintained as it fosters market confidence and continued investments." |
