Rolf Timans, European Union ambassador to Brazil, delivered a letter Wednesday, March 5, to Anatel and Communications Minister Miro Teixeira expressing the EU?s support for maintenance of the rules on mobile telephone frequency allocation. The move was clearly a reaction to lobbying by wireless carriers and equipment vendors for Anatel to allow the 1900 MHz band to be used for PCS instead of 1800 MHz. Last week Miro Teixeira sent Anatel his official recommendation in favor of authorizing 1900 MHz. The change would benefit CDMA and be detrimental to GSM. Sources linked to GSM carriers and vendors say it?s no coincidence that Luiz Kaufmann, president of Vésper, and U.S. Ambassador Donna Hrink had called on Mr Teixeira a few days earlier. Vésper recently won new PCS licenses and leads the lobby for 1900 MHz.
Noting Anatel?s 2000 decision in favor of aligning frequency bands with the global allocation defined by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), Rolf Timans stated in his letter that regulatory stability would avoid ?a reversal of expectations and a possible decline in investment, already so scarce and further threatened by the reigning international instability?. He recalled that the allocation of 1800 MHz to PCS fetched 4 billion Brazilian Reals in new license fees, 3bn BRL in capital expenditure on infrastructure, and 1bn BRL in GSM handset purchases. Anatel?s ?rapid and firm confirmation? that alignment with the ITU allocation will be maintained would demonstrate to wireless carriers that the Brazilian authorities are committed to the rule of law, the letter stressed. Stable rules are essential to implementation of global third-generation systems based on UMTS, which reserves 1900 MHz for this application, it noted. Other advantages mentioned include economies of scale, enhanced competition, and technological compatibility with other countries in applications and multimedia services.
Mobile services
