Brazil’s new 5G contracts to revolutionize urban mobility

Following the awarding of 3.5 GHz band contracts in early November for the implementation of 5G service in Brazil, Latin Americas largest country is expected to kick off a new era of digitization in 2022 which will revolutionize communications, logistics, transport, and urban mobility.

According to the contracts, 5G – which range from 2x to nearly 100x faster than 4G depending on the network – must be made available in all capital cities by July 2022, bringing several advantages to the internet of things and a slew of vehicle and mobility applications.

Besides providing faster and more stable Internet for devices and ensuring more reliability and security for communications and remote operations, the faster connections will support the integration of smart traffic lights and other sensors for large-scale traffic monitoring and improve communication between vehicles for accident prevention and navigation.

The use of autonomous vehicles as well as the integration of augmented reality features for driver and pedestrians will also be facilitated due to low latency. Besides vehicle fleets, subways, trains, and bus lines will likely be benefiting soon from newly implemented technologies such as artificial intelligence and others.

Although advances are expected, keep in mind that this cannot be accomplished without continuous support from governments and forward-thinking projects from the private sector. Fortunately, many automakers have already gotten a head start in terms of implementing vehicle connectivity and the initial phases of autonomous technologies.

“Cooperation will be a crucial success factor in the evolving autonomous vehicle market as cities launch test projects one after another…collaboration is critical to leverage the specialization of every stakeholder in the autonomous vehicle market to overcome complexity,” Frost & Sullivan New Mobility Director Shwetha Surender said at Global Fleet Conference 2021.

Backed by General Motors, autonomous driving company Cruise is planning to launch a self-driving electric vehicle (EV) taxi service in California shortly, an idea which could spread to many countries – including Brazil – in the months and years to come.

5G impacts on urban mobility:

•    implementing smart traffic lighting
•    providing energy savings solutions
•    reducing traffic congestion
•    optimizing waiting times for public transport
•    facilitating universal public transport internet access
•    monitoring and controlling speed

On 4 November, Brazil’s telecom regulator Anatel awarded 3.5 GHz band contracts for 5G service to the country’s three main mobile phone carriers. Claro won Lot B1 for 338 million reais (5.18% premium), Vivo won Lot B2 for 420mn reais (+30.7%), and Tim won Lot B3 for 351mn reais (+9.22%). Lot B4 was not awarded. Global Fleet