Oi SA, a telecoms operator in Brazil, will be testing its 5G network during the Rock in Rio music festival, using network equipment provided by China’s Huawei Technology, Reuters reported.
Oi is planning an annual capital expenditure of R$7.5 billion during 2019. The Capex of Oi reached 40.8 percent of its revenue during the second quarter of 2019.
According to Oi, 5G will be used by the entire event’s staff in live coverage of the attractions, while the public will be able to test the technology on handsets that will be made available during the event.
“We’ve suggested to Rock in Rio the deployment of 5G to transform the event in the first city connected by the technology,” Jose Claudio Moreira Gonçalves, Oi’s operational director, said in a statement.
Oi, Brazil’s largest fixed-line carrier, started 5G tests in March in Buzios, a city in Rio de Janeiro state, in partnership with Huawei.
Oi filed for bankruptcy protection in June 2016 to restructure 65 billion reais in debt. Oi has been focusing on reviving its mobile operations, whose customer base has shrunk over 20 percent to 35 million, Reuters reported.
