Brazil to reject US pressure on Huawei 5G bid, minister says
- Marcos Pontes, minister for science, technology, innovation and communications, says he will not veto any firm, and final decision will be based purely on merit
- Despite proximity between Bolsonaro and Trump administrations, Brazil is also seeking cooperation with China in hi-tech sectors
Brazil will not accept any pressure from the US over whether to allow the Chinese company Huawei to bid for its 5G network, Marcos Pontes, the minister for science, technology, innovation and communications, said.
“A good partner always understands the needs of the other,” Pontes said in an interview in his office in Brasilia. “Just as Brazil makes no claim over what business the US does with China and whether this affects or not our agribusiness.”
Pontes, responsible for establishing the criteria for the construction of the latest generation of ultra-fast internet, said that he would not veto any company from the bidding process and that the final decision would be based purely on merit.
“With technical criteria, it’s hard to see how some of these big companies won’t have the capacity to participate,” he said.
Scheduled initially for March this year and then postponed until the second half of 2020, the 5G auction could be delayed until 2021, according to Pontes. That Is due to a technical problem as the new network would interfere with the transmission from the satellite dishes that currently relay television signals in Brazil.