SAO PAULO, Brazil-Anatel, Brazil’s telecommunications regulatory agency, will not divulge the frequency band-either 1.8 GHz or 1.9 GHz-that band C cellular telephony operators will use until after the World Radiocommunication Conference ends in June. Anatel President Renato Guerreiro made the announcement in April just after Telecom Americas 2000, provoking even more suspense in a dispute that has been going on since the end of last year.
Although the frequency decision has been delayed, Guerreiro said the band C auction will take place in October, as scheduled, with carriers launching service by 1 January, 2001. In July, Anatel will define the number of licenses and whether they will be regional or nationwide.
Behind the choice of frequency, an exasperated fight exists between GSM and CDMA advocates for a market that, according to the Yankee Group, will be worth about US$10 billion in infrastructure alone and promises more than 21 millions users, both by the end of 2001.
The ongoing debate has involved, besides Anatel, the Brazilian Communications Ministry, the European Community and the U.S. government. The latter two were included in discussions, upon the requests of operators and manufacturers, and they participated actively in public sessions promoted by Anatel during recent months.
With the information-gathering period ending and still no frequency definition, manufacturers and the government chose Telexpo in Sao Paulo in March and Telecom Americas in Rio de Janeiro as locations to defend their interests. Immediately before Telexpo began, Brazil’s Minister of Communications, Joao Pimenta da Veiga Filho, was visited by Pascal Lamy, commissioner of European Community Foreign Trade, who defended the use of the 1.8 GHz frequency band. After the visit, the minister declared political and economical relations between Brazil and both Europe and the United States would be taken into account, including negotiations to export Brazilian agricultural and metallurgical products.
The declaration prompted visits during March from William Daley, U.S. Commerce secretary; government officials from Finland, Sweden and France; and businessmen from Portugal Telecom and Vodafone AirTouch. With the opening of Telexpo, the debate moved from the government offices in Brasilia to the public arenas of the telecom events.
During a press conference at Telexpo, Ericsson, Lucent, Motorola, Nortel, NEC and Qualcomm noted they favor the use of 1.9 GHz as the frequency for band C. For these companies, the 1.9 GHz option would be better due to compatibility issues with currently operating TDMA and CDMA systems.
Nortel do Brasil President Luiz de Oliveira Machado said: “There are reasonable arguments from both sides, but … the most viable option, considering an economical point of view, is the range of 1.9 GHz, because it allows the current operators to grow within the same technology.”
On the other hand, executives from Siemens, Alcatel, Nokia and landline operators Intelig and Inepar launched a campaign to defend the 1.8 GHz range, which they said would bring more advantages by offering more flexibility and better prices.
Alcatel Brasil President Jean Francois Fille said, “Because GSM has around 250 million users worldwide, the manufacturers would count on a worldwide line of production, much bigger, and therefore, would offer even better prices to the users.”
Unlike the public debate among companies, Anatel prefers to keep a discreet position on the subject. “This decision will have to be taken exclusively by the counselors of Anatel, and we will decide upon the technological, user and industrial point of view, but not upon the government point of view,” said Guerreiro.
