A tribunal overseen by Brazil’s Administrative Council for Economic Defence (Conselho Administrativo de Defesa Economica, CADE) has denied appeals from NEO, TelComp and Abrintel and approved the proposed 700MHz spectrum rental agreement between Winity Telecom and Telefonica Brasil (Vivo) without restrictions. 

The agreement was approved by a five-to-two vote. The decision means that the deal now passes to the National Telecommunications Agency (Agencia Nacional de Telecomunicacoes, Anatel), which may or may not choose to impose remedies. CADE first approved the contract without restrictions in May 2023, but received multiple objections from industry observers.

TeleGeography notes that Winity Telecom is a holding company backed by alternative asset management firm Patria Investimentos. In late-2020 Winity and Vivo signed an industrial network exploitation contract (contrato de exploracao industrial de rede, EIR) for the use of the 700MHz band in 1,120 municipalities. 

Vivo expects to gain access to 2×5MHz of Winity’s 2×10MHz spectrum holdings in the applicable locations. Winity successfully bid on a national 2×10MHz 700MHz licence in Brazil’s November 2021 5G spectrum auction, paying BRL1.428 billion (USD276.8 million) – the highest bid for a single spectrum lot in the auction. The newcomer plans to build 5,000 cell towers by 2029 and establish itself as Brazil’s first wholesale operator.