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Tech Roundup: Brazil 5G auction gets for increasingly political

This week: The political fight over 5G gets heated, frauds increase on Black Friday, and Brazilians increase use of biometric security.

5G huawei brazil
President Jair Bolsonaro meets Zou Zhilei, CEO of Huawei Latin America, in November 2019. Photo: Marcos Corrêa/PR

You’re reading The Brazilian Report’s weekly tech roundup, a digest of the most important news on technology and innovation in Brazil. This week’s topics: the political fight over 5G gets heated, frauds increase on Black Friday, and Brazilians increase use of biometric security. 

5G: Brazil heading for increasingly political auction

With China and the U.S. staging a Cold War-like race for 5G supremacy, governments’ choices over who gets to implement their countries’ fifth-generation wireless networks are becoming increasingly political. In Brazil — where the auction will take place in the first half of 2021 — President Jair Bolsonaro is making no attempt to ensure an ideology-free bidding process.

  • Earlier in the week, Congressman Eduardo Bolsonaro — the president’s third-eldest son — said on Twitter that Brazil will choose a 5G grid “without Chinese espionage,” hinting that Chinese firm Huawei could be banned from bidding.
  • Days later, the president and his chief security officer Augusto Heleno met with Carlos Baigorri, a board member at telecoms regulator Anatel — and the appointed rapporteur of the 5G auction. This is the first time a member of the regulatory agency has had a private meeting with the head of state. In theory, the president has no power over Mr. Baigorri’s recommendations on the 5G auction, or a potential Huawei ban.
  • Communications Minister Fabio Faria said the government wants the auction to take place as soon as possible.

Internal struggles. Military officers within the administration are in favor of taking a pragmatic approach on Huawei, pointing out that U.S. technology is by no means espionage-free.

Backlash. Telecom companies already depend heavily on Huawei equipment and warn that a ban would set the country’s 5G implementation back several years.

Moves. While the political battle rages on the federal level, states and private players are moving ahead with their own 5G regulations. Lawmakers in Rio de...

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