- Vivo will start offering the 5G network as of July 24;
- Competitors TIM and Claro have previously announced the service; Tim will make it available in September, while Claro started to roll out the first commercially available 5G network in Brazil on July 14;
- The Brazilian 5G frequencies auction, however, will take place in 2021, and, so far, carriers can offer the 5G DSS network, with limited potential.
Vivo‘s parent company Telefonica Brasil will launch its 5G DSS network still in July, as the company informed on a press release this Wednesday.
Until the end of the month, eight Brazilian cities such as São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Brasília, and Curitiba will have access to the technology, that, so far, works in the DSS (dynamic spectrum sharing) model. This means that different technologies (3G and 4G, for instance) can share the same frequency.
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“Like other countries in Europe, Asia, and the US, the 3.5GHz auction is necessary at the beginning of 2021 to accelerate the adoption of 5G as a digitization tool in the country,” Telefonica Brasil stated.
The Brazilian 5G frequencies auction was first scheduled to take place in November, but representatives at the National Telecommunications Agency (Anatel) have already admitted that it may be postponed to 2021.
The potential of 5G technology is huge, and while there are no dedicated frequencies, Vivo will evolve its network using the existing frequencies, as well as its wide fiber optic coverage.
Vivo’s parent company telefonica brasil, in a press release
Vivo’s counterparts in the country, TIM and Claro, have previously announced the service. Telecom carrier TIM Brasil, the Brazilian arm of Telecom Italia, announced the roll out its 5G commercial service in three medium-sized cities, next September. Claro, carrier owned by Mexico’s América Móvil group, began to roll out the first commercially available 5G network in Brazil on July 14, with coverage restricted to a few areas of São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro in this first phase.
According to Telefonica, 5G technology is expected to bring further digitization through three main fields: high-quality mobile internet that enables new and more immersive experiences such as VR and AR; mission-critical communications that demand an ultra-stable, ultra-reliable and low latency connection, such as remote control of critical infrastructures in factories, autonomous cars, and industrial robots; and, finally, the Internet of Things, which enables the massive connection of sensors, enabling the creation of new applications in a large number of industries such as agribusiness, smart cities, and high-precision industrial automation.
As for smartphone models, Vivo will, for now, enable the service on the Motorola Edge and in the coming months should expand the offer to at least two more Samsung models.
