Anatel approves PGMU for the period 2011 to 2015

The Director Advisor of Anatel approved at Thursday, 2 / 6, the proposed General Plan for Universal Fixed Switched Telephone Service (PGMU) for the period 2011 to 2015. The text now goes for consideration by the Advisory Board of the Agency and the Ministry of Communications, which will forward it for approval of the Presidency. The PGMU is established by presidential decree.
One thrust of the proposed new PGMU is to extend telephone services to individual and collective about 30 million Brazilians distributed in approximately 8 million rural households. The proposal provides that up to 108 000 public telephones are installed in rural areas - obligatory in schools and health clinics - and in settlements, maroon communities, indigenous villages, public airfields, stations in the federal highway police units for conservation and sustainable use of military organizations on demand.
It is estimated that providing individual access to reach more than 80% of rural households by 2015, with the use of wireless technologies. It is also envisaged the deployment of Service Stations Multifacilidades in rural cooperatives, on demand. At stations, users will have access to voice, Internet and digital imaging equipment.
As expected, the text retains the obligation to offer the Special Class Individual Access (AICE). The revision of the rules of the service, currently in Anatel, provides assistance to families receiving the family allowance program under appropriate conditions. The FCC's proposal should benefit many of the 13 million households served by the program. Currently, the IAEC has about 184,000 subscribers.
Already the target of public telephones density (number of public telephones per thousand inhabitants group) will be required for each municipality, rather than in relation to the area of ​​service provision. In addition, operators must implement an information system, monitoring and management of the occupation of public telephones, to enable better monitoring of availability and usage.
The obligation to be a pay phone to up to 300 meters away from anywhere in town, also still on. Well as the goals of care with existing public telephone booths in localities with more than one hundred inhabitants with access to individual locations with more than three hundred inhabitants. Thus, in 2010 were met 745 new locations, with 169 and 576 with individual access to public phones. In 2009, 761 new places were treated with 232 and 529 with individual access to public phones.
Likewise, the targets were kept in force for the installation of network infrastructure to support wireline broadband connection (Decree 6.424/2008).
(*) With information from the FCC.