RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Minister of Communications Fábio Faria on Monday said that the government’s decision to create a private 5G network with stronger protection rules for certain sectors, such as the Armed Forces, the Central Bank and the highest level of the three branches of government, has solved a geopolitical problem.
The Minister said that the private network bans the participation of any company whose board of directors or owners are affiliated to political parties, which was considered by experts a way to bar the participation of Chinese companies, as intended by President Jair Bolsonaro in alignment with the United States.
“We solved the geopolitical problem with the private network,” the Minister said when asked about a potential veto to China’s participation in the 5G network.
According to Faria, since the restriction concerns only the so-called private network, any company will be able to participate in 5G in the rest of Brazil.
“Within this secure communication network, we have set a series of parameters and observations that prevent some companies from participating, but within the rest of Brazil we will leave it to free trade,” he said.
The private network was the government’s solution to appease Bolsonaro’s objections to Chinese equipment supplier Huawei while not blocking the company from operating in Brazil, which would adversely affect telecom operators.
Since the start of the 5G process, Bolsonaro, in line with then U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration, wanted to ban Huawei from operating in the Brazilian market. However, the president’s political plans were thwarted by the fact that the Chinese company is supplying the bulk of equipment for Brazil’s 4G and 3G networks and offers the lowest prices.