Telecommunications in Brazil

Article 21, paragraph XI of the Brazilian Federal Constitution determines that telecommunication services must be exploited through a government controlled monopoly. Accordingly, all public telecommunication services are exploited by the Brazilian Telecommunications Company (Telebras). Telebras is the holding company of the so-called Sistema Telebras (Telebras System) consisting of 27 state based operating companies (OCs) and of EMBRATEL (Brazilian Telecom Enterprise), in charge of interstate connections and of the international gateway. The Federal law of 1972 that created Telebras also granted it power to exploit the services through its controlled or associate companies. Telebras owns over 97 percent of all telephone lines in the country. The remaining 3 percent are exploited by a private company (an exception foreseen in the Constitution) and two municipal companies. The newly inaugurated federal administration has submitted to the Congress a revised institutional model for the country, which includes the breakup of the state monopoly in telecommunications. The article discusses particularities regarding the future trends of the new approach to be enforced for the exploitation of telecommunication services and technology, and the evolution of the country's telecommunication networks.