A GSMA report launched during the inaugural Digital Nation Summit highlights the mobile sector’s focus on narrowing digital divides, prioritizing investment, and promoting innovation.
June 30, 2026, São Paulo: The GSMA, the global mobile industry association, brought its Digital Nation Summit series to Latin America for the first time, with a debut edition held today in São Paulo, Brazil. The event served as the platform for the launch of the report, “Brazil 2030: Connectivity, Innovation and Sovereignty,” which presents a set of public policy recommendations for the president who will take office in January 2027.
The report highlights the success of policies implemented over the past decade, including the non-revenue-raising 5G spectrum auction held in 2022, the alignment of municipal legislation with the General Antenna Law, the enhancement and operationalization of the Telecommunications Universal Service Fund (FUST), and the recently approved tax reform, among other measures. As a result of these sound policy decisions, Brazil has surpassed the milestone of 94% population coverage by mobile networks and is now one of the global leaders in the deployment of Standalone 5G (5G SA). Looking ahead, it is essential not to reverse the progress achieved and to continue working to close both the remaining coverage gap (6%) and, especially, the usage gap (26%)—people who live in areas with mobile network coverage but still do not have access to mobile services.
The mobile industry sets out the following policy recommendations:
- Ensure balanced negotiations among digital ecosystem stakeholders to sustain investment in connectivity infrastructure, as mobile traffic is expected to triple by 2030, driven by high-definition video, artificial intelligence, gaming, and emerging technologies.
- Recognize connectivity as a cross-cutting State policy and strengthen interministerial coordination mechanisms for the digital agenda to ensure alignment across public policies.
- Promote a coordinated approach to combating digital fraud that combines technological innovation, public-private cooperation, and citizen education.
- Establish meaningful connectivity as a State policy, ensuring the strategic use of FUST and other public policy instruments to address persistent coverage and usage gaps in a coordinated manner.
- Strengthen a spectrum policy focused on inclusion, innovation, and service continuity, preserving legal certainty and avoiding revenue-driven approaches, maintaining the direction set by the 5G auction that made Brazil an international benchmark.
- Align tax policy with international best practices and reduce taxes on mobile services, which currently account for approximately 29% of the final price paid by consumers—more than double the global average of 12%.
- Advance a national cybersecurity strategy by clearly defining the roles of each stakeholder in the digital value chain and fostering investment in a secure and trustworthy digital environment across all economic sectors and public services.
- Adopt a flexible, risk-based and cross-cutting approach to AI governance that recognizes the critical role of enabling digital infrastructure while encouraging responsible innovation and investment.
- Treat digital literacy as a State policy to boost productivity and inclusion by integrating connectivity, education, and employment through public-private partnerships.
- Integrate digitalization and the green transition through incentives and policies that enable investment in efficient and renewable digital infrastructure.
“When it comes to digital development, Brazil is a success story. The country has established itself as one of the world’s leading digital economies, thanks to consistent public policy decisions and an industry that has responded with investment, network expansion, and accelerated connectivity whenever regulatory predictability and the right incentives were in place. It is essential that future policies do not reverse or dilute the progress that has already translated into tangible benefits for both the economy and consumers,” said Lucas Gallitto, Director for Latin America and the Caribbean at the GSMA.
GSMA’s report “Brazil 2030: Connectivity, Innovation and Sovereignty” is available for download here.
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