Equipment Suppliers Lobby Minister on 3G
Brazilian telecoms equipment suppliers represented by the electronic goods association Abinee are lobbying communications minister Hélio Costa to speed up the adoption of 3G technology, newspaper Valor Econômico reported.
The sector needs projects such as 3G and WiMax to create new sources of income, according to Paulo Castelo Branco, country manager of Japanese hardware firm NEC and telecoms director at Abinee. "There is no other way to grow," Branco said.
Brazil's telecoms regulator Anatel is expected to decide in May which spectrum band is to be used for 3G services and hopes to auction licenses by the end of the year.
The country's second largest mobile operator TIM also brought the issue of 3G to the fore at a recent seminar in São Paulo, Valor reported.
"Anatel has to start with 3G quickly. It is the way that mobile operators will provide residential broadband [and compete with fixed line broadband]. I want competition," the newspaper reported TIM Brasil president Mario Cesar Pereira de Araujo as saying."
Posted to the site on 22nd March 2007
