Brazil has seen its first Standalone (SA) 5G networks go live in the capital Brasilia, with Claro, TIM and Vivo all launching their networks after receiving government approval.
We reported last week that the SA launch was imminent; the final regulatory hurdle was for the 3.3GHz-3.7GHz (‘3.5GHz’) band to be cleared for 5G use by the GAISPI (Grupo de Acompanhamento da Implantacao das Solucoes para os Problemas de Interferencia / Group for the Implementation of Solutions for Interference Problems). The government body granted its approval on Monday 4th July.
TIM Brasil CEO Alberto Griselli told TeleTime that the operator aimed to cover 65% of Brasilia’s population within 60 days. He noted that 100 of the planned 164 towers would be active at launch, enabling 50% population coverage from the start.
Vivo indicated that around 2.5 million of its subscribers in Brasilia have a 5G-ready device, while for Claro the figure is roughly two million. TeleGeography reports that the next city to receive 5G access is likely to be Belo Horizonte, followed by Porto Alegre and then Sao Paulo.
