Last Friday (October 4), Law No. 13.879/2019 was published, which changes Law No. 9.742 – Telecommunications General Regulation (LGT). This act was proposed in 2016 aiming to review the telecommunications regulations in Brazil.
The main goal of the new law is to change the contracting regime between the Public Administration and the Private Sector. Previously, they were made by a kind of grant given by the State, which was then changed to an Authorization. The new regime let go of the bidding process, but, on the other hand, the Public Administration earned the power to impose a one-sided repeal. In addition, the law foresees a faster authorization procedure and revokes the public requirement of wired telephone services.
Besides this, other relevant changes brought about by the new law are: (i) freedom of price charging for telecom services, which were previously contained in a list; (ii) limitation of the concept of “reversible goods”, allowing its selling by authorized companies – provided that the amount earned is invested in the sector; (iii) change of the management model on the use of radio frequencies, which are now exchangeable between service providers.
The law is not only important for boosting investment in this area but also for the universalization of mobile phones and internet connections and the implementation of 5G technology.
