Brazil’s National Telecommunications Agency (Agencia Nacional de Telecomunicacoes, Anatel) has confirmed that the country’s national mobile operators are able to launch Standalone (SA) 5G services using the 3.5GHz frequency band in a further four state capitals a week ahead of schedule. Florianopolis (Santa Catarina), Palmas (Tocantins), Rio de Janeiro (Rio de Janeiro) and Vitoria (Espirito Santo) all received the green light on Thursday 18 August and 5G services can be switched on from Monday 22 August.

In a related development, Anatel’s Board of Directors has approved the postponement of the release date for 5G frequencies in all other state capitals to 28 October, as suggested by the government’s Group for the Implementation of Solutions for Interference Problems (Grupo de Acompanhamento da Implantacao das Solucoes para os Problemas de Interferencia, GAISPI).

As previously reported by CommsUpdate, Brasilia was the first location green-lit for SA 5G, with Vivo, TIM and Claro all switching on services during the week commencing 4 July. Belo Horizonte, Joao Pessoa, Porto Alegre were next in line (29 July), with Sao Paulo following on 4 August, and Curitiba, Goiania and Salvador joining them on 16 August.