On Thursday, local units of America Movil, Telefonica, Telecom Italia, and a number of other local companies spent well over a billion dollars in order to secure valuable spectrum in Brazil for fifth-generation (5G) wireless technology.
The government estimates that the auction, which will be the largest in Latin America’s top economy, will need the victors to invest around 40 billion reais ($7.14 billion).
Seven businesses paid a total of 7.09 billion reais ($1.27 billion) for spectrum rights across Brazil on the first day of the auction.
Claro, which is owned by Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim’s America Movil SAB de CV (AMXL.MX), was the highest spender, paying 1.63 billion reais for several batches, including the B1 batch of 3.5 GHz spectrum, for which it paid 338 million reais, and the 2.3 GHz E3 batch, for which it paid 750 million reais.
Telefonica SA (TEF.MC), which operates Brazil’s largest wireless carrier under the Vivo brand (VIVT3.SA), paid approximately 967 million reais to win the B2 batch of 3.5 GHz spectrum, as well as many other batches, with a 420 million reais bid.
According to Vivien Suruagy, head of a federation of 137,000 enterprises, Brazil’s 5G network could provide new business prospects worth over $1 trillion over 15 years and create 1.5 million employment in four years.
Brazil’s major cellular companies already employ Huawei for more than half of their networks, claiming that banning Huawei would result in billions of dollars in additional expenses being passed on to customers.
