Brazilian fixed and mobile telephone operators must invest over R$8bn (US$45bn) in the next four years in order to ensure equal service and access quality to all of Brazil’s population, according to Sinditelebrasil.
Sinditelebrasil, the Brazilian…
Brazilian fixed and mobile telephone operators must invest over R$8bn (US$45bn) in the next four years in order to ensure equal service and access quality to all of Brazil’s population, according to Sinditelebrasil.
Sinditelebrasil, the Brazilian National Union of Telephone and Cellular and Personal Mobile Services Companies, was speaking to Agência Brasil, the state news agency, at a telecoms conference in Guaruja.
Eduardo Levy, executive director of Sinditelebrasil, also complained about the tax burden, which he estimated at R$160bn (US$90bn), that telcos will have to bear in the years running up to the football Word Cup. Levy argues that in the next four years the Brazilian telecommunications market can expect 100 million new contracts to be raised in all parts of the country.
Luiz Solomon, the Executive Secretary for Strategic Affairs of the Brazilian government, did acknowledge that the tax burden of the sector had to be reduced. He said: “We recognise that it is absurd to overly tax investment in telecommunications. To do so is to curb the country’s development.”
However, he did make the caveat that if the government did lighten the tax burden on the telecommunications industry, it would have to make up the revenue elsewhere – which could inhibit the growth of other sectors equally important to the development of Brazil’ economy.
The country currently has over 247 million telecoms services subscribers, including telephony, internet and pay-TV services. Telebrasil expects most of the projected growth during the period to come from the mobile telephony segment.
