Stefano Agnelli, the director of European Institutional Affairs at Eutelsat and a member of EUBrasil
Many authorities and representatives of government, private and academic sectors from the EU and Brazil gathered to discuss the challenges and to encourage efforts to boost investment in telecommunications and ICT, as well as strengthen the industrial sector.
“Let’s work together, Brazil and Europe”, said the president of EUBrasil, Luigi Gambardella.
“We need to reflect together on how to reshape the regulatory framework in order to redefine the relationship between telecom operators and internet players. We need to work also to increase cooperation on privacy and data protection, consumer protection, online copyright, internet security and internet governance”, added Gambardella.
Gambardella highlighted that the priority today is to promote efforts focused on new services, such as cloud, 3D printers and smart cities. “These are the areas where Europe and Brazil should begin joint studies and industrial projects”, he said.
The Deputy Director-General of the European Commission’s DG Connect, Roberto Viola, said the exchange of experiences with Brazil is essential to develop policies and alternatives in the highly competitive market of telecoms. “Brazil currently plays in the First League of the ICT sector”, said Viola, using a football metaphor. In his opinion, sharing experiences with Brazilian professionals “allows us to understand better how to tackle the global issues because we live in a global economy”.
Similarly, the Deputy Director-General of DG Competition Antitrust, Cecilio Madero, considered the meeting a special occasion to discuss the challenges and solutions for the sector. “Meetings like this provide us with knowledge to perform individual and joint actions in the future”, said Madero.
“The current challenge is to develop a kind of joint venture technology”, said the Secretary for Information Technology Policy of the Ministry of Science,Technology and Innovation (MCTI), Virgilio de Almeida. He also said that “the relationship is going well but can be further improved”.
Virgilio de Almeida stressed that Brazil is working on the third coordinated call for research on communication technologies, as this is an opportunity to get researchers together but also the industrial sector.
Parliamentary Vision
Pilar del Castillo MEP drew attention to the important geopolitical role of Brazil in Latin America. “When we talk about a transatlantic relationship, we think of the US, but in fact Brazil is also a regional leader and has much to contribute to the ICT discussions”, said del Castillo.
Investments in Brazil
Representing the private sector, Stefano Agnelli, the director of European Institutional Affairs at Eutelsat and a member of EUBrasil, explained that the improvement of ICT technologies can create real opportunities for satellite communications, in some key applications like broadband access, TV and in-flight connectivity among others.
“For example, Eutelsat is committed with huge investment in the country. Brazil and Latin America are indeed front and centre of our investment. Other European companies have done the same”, said Agnelli.
Market Analysis – Brazil-EU
Commissioned by EUBrasil to Cullen International, the study “Brazil and EU digital economies: recent developments” was also presented during the event.
The report indicates that in Europe, where the recent economic growth has also been modest, revenues in the electronic communications sector amounted to € 323.6bn in 2012, 3.3% lower than 2011. Brazil’s telecommunications market has been growing steadily, with gross revenues reaching €43bn in 2013. The annual increase in revenues was almost 4.4% in 2013 and 5.3% in 2012, representing approximately 4.7% of the Brazilian GDP.
However, the average broadband penetration in the EU has increased from January 2004 to January 2014, from 4.9% to 30% of the population. Broadband take-up has been fostered by falling prices and higher speed offers, thanks to the increased competitive pressure.
For the full report “Brazil and EU digital economies: recent developments” please click on the link here
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The meeting also included the presence of the vice-president of the Delegation for relations with Brazil, Carlos Zorrinho MEP, senior officials such Mário Campolargo, Deputy Director-General at DG Connect, Reinald Krueger, Head of Unit in the Information Society and Media at DG Connect, Virgilio Almeida, Secretary for Information Technology Policy of the Ministry of Science,Technology and Innovation (MCTI), José Gustavo Sampaio Contijo, Director of Industry, Science and Technology at the Ministry of Communications, Minister Luis Galvão, from the Brazilian mission in the EU, among others.
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