Facility will produce 5G equipment for LatAm market
Swedish telecoms equipment maker Ericsson announced plans to invest 1 billion reais ($238.3 million) to install a new assembly line for 5G in Brazil, Reuters reported, citing a company executive.
According to the report, the future production line will manufacture 5G kits for Ericsson’s Latin American operations.
“We already export 40% of all equipment assembled in Brazil to Latin American countries, and it will be no different with 5G,” said Eduardo Ricotta, president of Ericsson Latam South.
This investment decision by Ericsson will boost competition with rival vendors Nokia and Huawei which already have factories in Sao Paulo and are also paving the way to compete in the 5G space in Brazil.
Ericsson confirmed that the investment will be made between 2020 and 2025 and includes the cost of hiring and acquisition of machinery, among other expenses.
In an initial phase, the Swedish vendor will invest 200 million reais to set up the new 5G assembly line in its factory located in Sao Jose dos Campos, an industrial city near Sao Paulo, the executive said.
Finnish vendor Nokia is also expecting to attract opportunities in the Brazilian market with the future auction of 5G spectrum, scheduled to take place next year.
In a recent interview with Reuters, Nokia’s CTO in Latin America Wilson Cardoso, said that Brazil would host the world’s biggest-ever single auction for 5G spectru,
“We see the political will to carry out a large spectrum auction in the first quarter of 2020. I think it is plausible to say that the big Christmas present in Brazil next year will likely be a 5G smartphone,” Cardoso said.
Brazilian telecoms regulator Anatel is still determining the rules for the auction after deciding earlier this year that both 2.3 GHz and 3.5 GHz frequencies would be allocated to 5G. The agency is also considering to add other bands such as 26 GHz and 700 MHz to the spectrum auction process.
If all four frequencies are auctioned together, Cardoso added, it will be the world’s largest spectrum auction for 5G.“The crown jewels are certainly 26GHz and 700MHz, but the more spectrum available the lower the price speculation among the carriers,” he explained.
Accoricng to recent reports, Anatel may decide to postpone the 5G spectrum auction to 2021 due to some regulatory issues.
Nokia started testing 5G in Brazil last year in partnership with TIM Participacoes, the local subsidiary of Telecom Italia. Cardoso said the Finnish vendor has been involved in 5G tests with other carriers, but refused to name them due to confidentiality issues.
Chinese giant Huawei has also expressed interest in future 5G projects in the South American country. Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro recently confirmed that Huawei had intentions to take part in future 5G network deployments in Brazil following a meeting with Huawei Brazil’s CEO Wei Yao.
