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Alexandre Fonseca again defended today the need to rethink the future and define the investment strategy in 5G, which must be balanced with the investments that have already been made in fiber optics and 4G. In his speech at the Mobi Summit, after the Undersecretary of State and Communications requested a spirit of cooperation, the president of Altice Portugal harshly criticized Anacom and stressed that “we cannot allow 5G or the new Communications Law. turn it into a political weapon or to decapitalize the sector ”.
The investments that Altice Portugal has made in infrastructure, and that demonstrated its resilience in this pandemic phase of COVID-19, allowing the economy and companies to continue operating despite the confinement. Altice’s fiber optic already reaches 5.3 million homes and Alexandre Fonseca had already requested a public-private partnership to cover 100% of the accommodations.
For the president of Altice Portugal “circumstances have changed” and, looking towards the future to come, 5G cannot be a national priority compared to investments in education and health, in the protection and safety of people, especially when 4G and the WiFi showed its capacity and resistance. “It is important to understand if the priorities are the same,” he says, noting that it is important “to rethink the future and define the investment strategy in 5G”, and “balance with the investments made in fiber optic and 4G networks.”
Rethinking investing is “not being tempted to [o leilão de 5G] be a company to make the state viable and decapitalize the operators and make it impossible for the 5G network to really reach where it is needed, “he said, referring that it would be the same as spending all the money to buy the car and not having money to pay the gasoline.
For Alexandre Fonseca, incentives must be devised so that private operators continue to invest in the appropriate technologies to reach the entire population, remembering that it is a sector that invests more than one billion euros a year, which is at the forefront of the technology and innovation worldwide, which employs more than one hundred thousand people and is worth 3% of GDP.
5G as a political weapon
“That is why we cannot allow 5G or the new Electronic Communications Law to become political weapons that attack this sector in response to populist, demagogic or merely political ideologies,” he stresses, reinforcing that “we cannot let them become weapons decapitalize such an important sector for the economy ”.
As for the Electronic Communications Law, which is being transposed, Alexandre Fonseca says that it is not possible to legislate by decree, or based on information from Google, without talking to the real actors. “We cannot allow the transposition of the European directive to the new Electronic Communications Law to be a political tool, which will allow the State to stop being accountable and take away what belongs to the State, its obligation to serve all Portuguese on an equal footing. “.
Alexandre Fonseca again harshly criticized the market regulator, saying the lack of dialogue is responsible. “We cannot allow an inconsistent, authoritarian regulator, oblivious to what dialogue is, with a gigantic ego, to continue creating splits and separations between operators, the government and the Portuguese, in a sector that is vital, that generates employment and value.”
