Brazil. The National Telecommunications Agency, Anatel, approved the update of the regulation for the concession and licensing of telecommunications stations. This will make it possible for interested companies to use radio frequencies in remote areas, which will have to apply for authorisation and inform the Agency about the boundaries of the territory in which they operate.
Agribusiness and other sectors of the national economy should benefit from the changes, such as mining companies, which can apply for the new type of authorization for use in the extraction region.
The approved changes also reduce the burden of obligations on telecommunications stations shared by more than one operator, such as cell phone antennas. These stations are now entitled to a single license, without each occupant having to obtain an individual authorization. Consequently, there will be a reduction in the incidence of the rates of the Telecommunications Inspection Fund (Fistel). According to Anatel data, Fistel raised R$1.42 billion in 2019.
As for the exemption, the new treatment of stations for Rádio do Cidadão, also known as PX and widely used by truckers, who will be exempt from granting service stations and license (Fistel), simply by means of a system. Anatel's own electronic system communicates in advance the start of its activities.
Citizen Radio is used in communications of general or private interest; as well as to respond to emergency situations, such as catastrophes, fires, floods; epidemics, disturbances of order, accidents and other situations of danger to life, health or property; and to transmit remote control signals to electrical devices.
Another advance of the new regulation is the update of the procedure for the provision of orbital positions, authorizations for the operation of satellites in the national territory, carried out by the Agency.
According to the president of Anatel, Leonardo de Morais, the approved regulatory update "seeks to alleviate the bureaucratic impact involved in the provision of telecommunications services, especially with respect to deadlines and administrative costs", which favors the entry into operation of interested companies. . For him, the project facilitates the entry of new suppliers, "with the reduction of barriers that have a negative impact on the competitive environment".
