5G
The process of liberating the 3.5 GHz bands for 5G advanced in the 1st quarter of 2021 (1Q21) with the execution of the main planned activities:
- The EAF was constituted and Leandro Guerra was appointed its president.
- Embratel's satellite, StarOne D2, will be used by the open TV channels that will migrate from the C band to the Ku band, as decided by the 3.5 GHz Band Obligations Monitoring Group (GAISPI).
- Anatel published an updated list of stations that will migrate to the Ku band.
The activities planned for the 2nd quarter of 2022 are, however, more challenging, mainly in relation to the distribution of kits in the Ku Band to the users of the C band who have low income.
Despite the choice of StarOne D2 by GAISPI, broadcasters understand that they will be able, after migration, to make TVRO signals available also in another orbital position, using Sky's IS-32 satellite, at 43º West.
Anatel published the Panorama of Radio Frequencies of Mobile Telephony in Brazil – 2021, where it estimates that, driven by the commitments of the 5G auction, we will have between 121.8 thousand and 154.9 thousand cell sites in the country in 2029. Brazil had 96, 5 thousand cell sites in Feb/22.
China reached the milestone of 497 million 5G cellphones and 1.3 million 5G cell sites at the end of 2021. (MIIT)
Price of 5G Smartphones with millimeter waves
- Millimeter waves (26 GHz in Brazil) continue to find it difficult to expand, now due to higher prices for smartphones that support these frequencies.
- In the United States, Verizon is the only operator where all the 5G smartphones sold include millimeter waves. Virtually none of the 5G smartphones it sold at the end of last year had a price lower than or equal to US$ 250. The smartphones sold for less than that amount were still 4G.
- At AT&T 95% of smartphones sold in 4Q21, that were priced between US$126 and US$ 250, were 5G but they did not include millimeter waves. (Light Reading/Bay Street Research)
- Apple's new line of cheaper smartphones (SE brand) will also not support millimeter waves.
Oi
- The Final Balance of Oi's Caixa Financeiro fell to R$ 2,315 million in Jan/22, R$ 384 million lower than in the previous month. Oi invested R$ 191 million in the month.
- Oi's ON shares had gains of 3.8% in the week and PN shares of 4.6%. Ibovespa raised 3.2% in the week.
Competitives
- Vero Internet's net revenue grew 99.1% in 2021, reaching R$ 421 million. EBITDA margin hit 45.1% and net income R$ 51.7 million.
- Unifique announced the acquisition of Sygo Internet, a provider that covers 65 municipalities in Rio Grande do Sul and has around 80 thousand fixed broadband accesses.
Other Highlights
- The hearing of Carlos Baigorri and Artur Coimbra was scheduled for the March 22nd (Tuesday) by the Senate Infrastructure Commission. They were nominated for president and director of Anatel respectively.
- AT&T aims to reduce its copper network by 50% by 2025, which would allow for cost savings of about US$ 6 billion.
Coming Weeks
- March 3rd: 2021 results of Brisanet and Unifique
- March 29th: Oi's 2021 Results 2021
MWC 2022
- I was in Barcelona following the Mobile World Congress 2022, where I watched presentations with excellent content.
- The Congress is very large and had as main themes: Fintech, CloudNet, AI Advantace, Tech Horizon, 5G Connectivity and IoT.
- Among the highlights were the keynote sessions, the fair with companies such as Huawei, Nokia, Ericsson and Qualcomm, the GLOMO Awards, in which I participate as a member of the Jury, and the 4YFN (Start-ups).
- But the sessions with the most content are those that are face-to-face and far from the spotlight. The following is a summary of the main topics that I followed.
Evolution of 5G technology to 6G (Metaverse)
- The 6G specification should be completed in 2030 and the main objective is to have a platform that supports the Metaverse.
- Imagine the amount of data and computational capacity involved in a world where for each person or object there is a digital replica (Digital Twin) and the interaction is immersive with these replicas. It is this scenario that justifies thinking about terabyte data rates.
- There is still a lot of uncertainty in this scenario. Ofcom estimated that traffic in 2030 could be 7.5x to 52x the current.
- On the other hand, a survey carried out by the GSMA shows that the operators' main priority is not to reduce costs, but to improve the Customer experience (Coverage and Capacity) and generate new revenues (IoT).
- This will be the focus of 5G advanced, to be specified by release 18 until 2025, and which will be an intermediate step towards 6G (2030).
- 5G advanced also has on its agenda advances towards the Metaverse with Extended Reality (XR)
- The challenges to develop 6G are many, including a new physical layer that replaces OFDM, Power Consumption and Trustworthy Data.
5G and millimeter waves
- Millimeter waves (26 GHz in Brazil) should be seen as a complement to medium waves (3.5 GHz and 2.3 GHz) in Brazil. They can be used in indoor environments, large concentrations of people, such as stadiums, and as backhaul.
- Regarding the use for FWA, a study by the GSMA shows that the FWA with millimeter waves is a competitive solution where there are no poles or ducts to implement the fiber network. If FWA is implemented as a complement to an existing 5G mobile network at 3.5 GHz, it may be competitive in some situations.
More spectrum needed
- Although the use of higher frequency bands for 5G Advanced and 6G are being studied, there is growing concern about releasing more spectrum in the medium waves for mobile services.
- At the center of the debates is the ITU conference in 2023 (WRC23) which must decide on the destination of the 6 GHz band, disputed by the mobile service and WiFi 6.
- Anatel may review the decision to allocate the 1.2 GHz spectrum to 6 GHz for unlicensed use (WiFi 6E). An alternative would be to allocate 700 MHz for mobile service and the rest for unlicensed use. The destination of this band will be defined by the ITU at its world conference to be held in 2023 (WRC23).
IoT
- Connectivity over cellular networks for IoT solutions advances with LTE M and NB-IoT. Connectivity is predicted to account for 5% of IoT revenue in 2025.
- Mobile IoT will be dominated in the world in 2025 by the following use cases: Connected Vehicles, Asset tracking & monitoring and Road Traffic Monitoring & control.
- Despite growing in the world at a rate of 10% per year, the big question is how to accelerate this growth, massifying the IoT.
- When will the cost of IoT device connectivity be US$1 per year?
Oi
- CADE will judge this Wednesday (March 9th) the Motion for Clarification filed by TelComp and Algar on the sale of Oi Mobile.
- Oi's ON shares grew 5.0% in the week and PN shares increased 0.0%. The Ibovespa raised 1.2% in the week.
5G
- The AWS Cloud will be one of those used by Vivo to host the core of Vivo's 5G SA network.
- TIM and Huawei will implement smart city solutions with the 5G network in Curitiba.
2021 Results: Telecom Itália
- Telecom Italia has approved the company's industrial plan for the period between 2022 and 2024, segregating the fixed infrastructure in Italy (NetCo) from the rest of the company (ServCo).
- The Group's net revenue fell by 3.1% in 2021.
Other highlights
- Information and Communication Services was the GDP subsector that showed the highest growth in 2021 (12.3%). Brazil's GDP grew 4.6% in the year.
- Ufinet withdrew from integrating the pole-sharing pilot project into Enel's network. The project provoked a strong reaction from SCM providers for restricting their access to the poles.
- Good news for Sigfox users. Nine companies are interested in acquiring it, after it was placed in judicial recovery.
- Anatel signed the Vivo TAC with commitments in the amount of R$ 435 million.
Coming Weeks
- March 29th: Oi's 2021 Results
