Brazil telecoms modernisation law signed by president

Brazil’s president, Jair Bolsonaro, has signed a law modernising Brazil’s telecoms regulations in a move long expected by the industry to allow new investment opportunities and help salvage bankrupt carrier Oi, reports Reuters. “The law, which took 5 years to clear Congress, will boost telecoms companies by lifting restrictions on sales of their formerly state-owned assets. It will also allow for a secondary market for trading cellphone frequencies. Fixed-line concession holders will be allowed to migrate their licenses to a private regime in which they can more freely allocate investments to expand broadband services.” “Fixed-line companies got a pathway out of the over-regulated concession regime, while cellphone companies can now trade frequencies,” said Ricardo Tavares, CEO of TechPolis, a telecoms policy consulting company. Satellite companies will be able to apply directly for frequencies, as opposed to through auctions. “This law gave President Bolsonaro a chance to build his deregulation credentials in a sector that badly needed it,” Tavares said. Telecoms association SindiTelebrasil praised the removal of “obsolete” restrictions that will free up resources for the expansion of internet access for Brazilians. “The new legal framework for telecoms will finally put Brazil on the road to the digital economy,” the lobby group said in a statement. Read more

• Monday, 21 October 2019