Brazil: the envisaged telecommunication scenario in the near future

The Brazilian telecommunication sector is experiencing a process of institutional and technological changes. The new Congress is discussing new rules for a market economy with flexibility, including the disruption of the TELEBRAS monopoly, where a conglomerate of 29 state companies are responsible for telecommunications in the country. Besides the necessary constitutional changes, the government has to guarantee access to telecommunication services by the low income population, the deployment of well defined networks and services standards and to prepare TELEBRAS for this new and more competitive environment. This paper describes how this process is being conducted, presents the technological perspectives of the services and networks evolution, including milestones of the present network and for the 1996, 2000 and 2010 transition scenarios and concludes with some issues on the deregulation trends, a matter that is attracting the Brazilian society attention and is part of the government program.