On Friday, July 29, three capital cities, Belo Horizonte (Minas Gerais), João Pessoa (Paraíba), and Porto Alegre (Rio Grande do Sul), received the 5G technology.
Brasília (Federal District) was the first city in the country to receive the fifth generation of mobile internet. All capitals must have the new technology by September 29, according to the schedule set by the National Telecommunications Agency (Anatel).
The previous deadline was July 31, but it was changed because the 3.5 GHz band is being cleaned to avoid interference in the traffic of TV signals captured by parabolic antennas.
The Brazilian Association of Infrastructure for Telecommunications (Abrintel) has accompanied the process of 5G arrival in the country from the beginning, mainly supporting municipalities that need to change outdated legislation to allow the installation of new antennas required by the new technology.
Luciano Stutz, president of Abrintel, talked to Brasil61 about the progress of implementing the fifth generation mobile internet and the perspectives for installation in other Brazilian capitals.
Stutz also discusses the precautions users should take when facing this new technology.
Abrintel has been following the process of the arrival of 5G since the beginning, especially helping to reformulate municipal legislation that is outdated and that would hinder the installation of antennas necessary for the fifth generation mobile internet. The deadline set by Anatel for 5G to reach all the country’s capitals, which was the end of July, has been extended to September 29. Even with the extended deadline, how are we doing regarding the installation of 5G in the country?
“We are well into this July period, and I will explain why. First, we have to say that Anatel’s schedule was postponed for 60 days. The deadline for 5G deployment in the capitals was changed to September 29.
“It has nothing to do with the speed of the deployment, but much to do with the interference mitigation measures that the agency is coordinating, distributing satellite dish filters to those who have the CadÚnico (the Unified Registry).
“So far, we can say that we have seen well. I want to highlight a few aspects. First, in the physical implementation.
“The antennas are being put up, most of the capitals are already seeing the antennas being put up to promote this coverage by September 29, and I also want to highlight the commitment that we have had since the beginning, from Abrintel, with the reformulation of municipal laws.
“The main Brazilian capitals with outdated legislation have already corrected their problem and today are on the way, with well-settled legislation that allows the deployment of the new antennas.”
As 5G reaches the capitals, do users also need to make any changes with the operator? Does the cell phone also need to be differentiated?
“It’s important to say that using 5G technology depends primarily on your smartphone. Your device has to have access to this technology. If you are today, for example, in Brasília, and you already see ‘5G’ on the top of your smartphone, it is because it works on the 5G network.
“The second step is to contact the operator because then it will be up to each operator to decide how they will allow the user to use the service plan with 5G. Probably the operators will not charge any extra and let their users use 5G, but others may, and this is allowed, charge, for example, a different service plan for 5G.
“So far, I haven’t seen anything along these lines, with a different plan than for 4G. If the operators’ strategy is the same, you will probably detect 5G on your device and, from then on, use the new technology.”
Besides the device used and the speed 100 times faster than 4G, is there any other change the user will feel?
“As you use 5G, you have to pay attention to the size of the data package. As the speed is much higher, data consumption is usually much faster. In other words, if downloading a movie on 4G used to take 25 minutes, a 2-gigabyte movie now will take about 25 seconds.
“In 25 seconds, you will spend the number of data that it used to take 25 minutes to spend, so your contracted data plan, which is by capacity, can run out much faster, and the consumer needs to stay tuned to this consumption.”
In Brasilia, only the center received this 5G coverage, not all the cities in the Federal District. When will the people living in the periphery of capital cities benefit from faster internet?
“This will be due to the operators’ commercial interest. As demand arises, as people have devices with 5G and demand consumption, this coverage will increase to reach these locations.
“The peripheries of the big cities, and I’m not saying this myself; this is a public policy philosophy, is first to try to have 100% 4G coverage. You know that in the Federal District satellite cities, some stretches, like the reality of neighborhoods in São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, and other metropolitan regions in Brazil, still depend on adequate 4G coverage.
“So, the first goal imposed by Anatel is to bring 5G to the Brazilian capitals, but approximately 7,000 locations in Brazil, which today do not have 4G, far from the municipal districts, are gaining 4G coverage as well to massify this coverage.
That is to increase digital inclusion and reduce social inequality. That is the goal. You will see the 4G coverage first increase in the satellite cities, and then this 5G coverage will reach the more peripheral towns. That is what will undoubtedly happen.”
With information from Brasil61