One of the main global events in the telecommunications sector, the Mobile World Congress 2023, was attended by a robust Brazilian delegation comprising members of government agencies and leaders of large companies in the sector.
To talk more about what happened at the summit in the Spanish city, Futurecom the event Post-MWC Barcelona by Futurecom, which was mediated by Marcio Kanamaru, leading partner TMT at KPMG, with the guests:
- Abraão Balbino, executive superintendent of Anatel;
- Jacqueline Lopes, director of Institutional Relations for the Latam South region at Ericsson;
- Hermano Pinto, director of Futurecom;
- Daniela Martins, director of Institutional Communications at Conexis and Telebrasil; and
- Luiz Henrique Barbosa, president of TelComp.
Find out more about the key points highlighted by participants below!
The challenge of monetization in the new telecommunications businesses
Opening the debate, Balbino observed that one of the main challenges presented in Barcelona was the monetization and sustainability of telecommunications businesses. He explained:
“We had the opportunity to engage in a very rich debate together with the delegation and with various actors from the public sector, and we understand that this allowed us to take a set of contextual issues of what we are going through and bring it to everyone who was there in a structured manner”.
Balbino commented that it is necessary to change the agents' view of regulation, because, according to him, there is a symbiosis in the process between operators and entities seeking to maintain the level of innovation in the digital ecosystem in a sustainable way.
“In the case of Facebook, for instance, which moved from a web-based model to mobile, this happened thanks to the innovation that allowed the mobile bandwidth to be available, and this was significant for the paradigm shift that this company experienced”, he reflected.
He added that one of Anatel's roles in this sense is to allow these relationships to take place in a productive and communicative way.
“Anatel is looking into this, seeking to bring balance to relationships, while bringing a vision of sustainability to the entire ecosystem without any kind of bias”, he pointed out.
Sustainability and industrial growth with connectivity innovations
Next, Jacqueline Lopes spoke about 6G, analyzing what needs to be done to get there while still expanding the newly-arrived 5G. According to her, technology can help with another vital topic of our time: sustainability.
“An Ericsson study showed us that technology can help reduce emissions by 15%. Data traffic by 2030 will increase fourfold, but energy consumption will remain stable”, she pointed out.
Lopes continued: “In a global context, with everyone working towards sustainability, with companies and countries having ESG goals, why not use technology in an innovative and sustainable way so that 5G can be an enabling technology for all sectors?”
She addressed the issue of 5G monetization, citing the challenges faced by those in attendance, which she divides into three pillars: FWA, Networking Slicing and Private Networking.
The Ericsson representative also revealed that the company's study indicated that, by 2030, the industrial sector will have an increase in demand to the tune of 65 to 85%, raking in over 380 billion reais in digital transformation. She noted:
“This is an effort for the various actors - whether the companies that work in digital transformation, the operators, ourselves in the venture part, collaborating with the government because the regulatory part is also crucial for predictability - outlining the challenges for us to act together in order for innovation to continue.”
The training of professionals for the future of the technological market
Hermano Pinto began his speech by pointing out that the market is very dynamic, with several new companies present at the Barcelona event. According to him, the key point is innovation and what is being applied worldwide.
"Each region has its development, so we saw the Asians working one way, the Europeans another, the Americans also with their solutions, but the important thing is to know that now they are all working with their feet on the ground", he said.
He added: “Sustainability has permeated all discussions, as we have several factors, such as the network, but also the issue of servers, data centers, and the issue of energy is present in all areas.”
Another point addressed by the director of Futurecom was the training of people and professionals who will keep these technologies growing. He commented on the example of the government of Spain acting together with Telefônica so that young people can have programming language as a basis for information.
Particularities of Brazil and the issue of the Antenna Law
Then, Daniela Martins spoke about the balance of players, the increased use of networks, and the particularities of Brazil as aspects that were noted during the MWC in Barcelona.
“Our forecasts for Brazil are already a global reality because we ended the year with 6 million accesses in 5G. So, the obligations of the public tender notice are being fulfilled”, she analyzed.
Martins continued: “This topic leads us to the challenge Brazil is facing, which is to show that we are committed to the public tender notice in regards to the investment appetite, feeding resources that will provide a greater volume of investment for this implementation to accelerate.”
According to the panel member, the issue of the Antenna Law is another aspect that demands attention so that 5G may continue to advance, also preparing the ground for the imminent arrival of 6G in the years to come.
“We are a country of continental proportions, with over 5,000 municipalities, and each of them have their own antenna legislation. The second aspect that we also need to bring up for constant debate is taxation,” she said.
She concluded: “We also have the discussion of technology and connectivity rules, and there is a provocation that we can glean from Barcelona – here, we have accessible and adherent rules and laws not only for current connectivity, but for the models to come.”
Agents working together for the benefit of national telecommunication
Luiz Henrique Barbosa was the next speaker in line. He addressed the fact that Telcomp is an association that encompasses companies from different areas of the sector, reporting that the entity has sought a new position in its activities.
“There is this vision of attempting to become a business hub, and not just the historical behavior of talking about taxation, regulation, infrastructure, and how we can innovate. With the fixed value chain, the mobile chain, which is where we want to position ourselves”, he stated.
To Barbosa, the entity he represents, as well as others in the segment, can continue collaborating in these dialogues between the public and private sectors so that telecommunications may continue to develop quickly in the country.
“We see ourselves as an association that helps to understand technology, showing that it is transversal and facilitates the telecom business environment, and bringing the applications we saw in Barcelona to a more feasible reality”, he added.
Daniela Martins also spoke about the monetization of 5G in areas such as education, health, and other industrial segments. Jacqueline Lopes, in turn, noted that connectivity brings advantages to B2B, noting that it is necessary to accelerate companies’ efforts to prepare for it, thus fostering the ecosystem.
According to Barbosa, 5G is already helping to redefine the telecommunications cycle in Brazil. He stated, however, that changes do not occur overnight, as in the case of smartphones, which needed almost a decade since their creation to have the applications and functionalities that we have today.
Learn more about the Futurecom event, the biggest phygital content and relationship platform on the connectivity universe in Latin America.
