Eyeing the presidency, São Paulo governor makes push for 5G antennas

As the celebrations subsided after Brazil’s landmark 5G auction two weeks ago, a major infrastructure bottleneck appeared. Raising around USD 8.5 billion in premiums and investment pledges, the federal government announced its ambition to set up 5G in all 27 Brazilian state capitals by July of next year — the problem is, only one-quarter of these cities have enough antennas to operate the new tech.

In a bid to get out ahead of the competition, São Paulo Governor João Doria issued a state law proposal on Tuesday to unify regional legislation on installing antennas in São Paulo’s 645 cities, hoping to speed up his state’s charge toward 5G internet. The state — Brazil’s most populous and wealthiest — has just over seven months to make the tech operational.

Mr. Doria, ever the ambitious public figure, is hoping to run for president in next year’s elections representing the mainstream center-right Brazilian Social Democracy Party (PSDB), which holds primaries on November 21.

Previously, his major electoral trump card was that he was the first executive head in the country to bring Covid-19 vaccines to Brazil, dishing out jabs in the state before the federal government. Now, with nationwide vaccination rates high, he is looking to make 5G another feather to put in his cap.

Indeed, in this regard, he will be jostling for space with incumbent President Jair...