SÃO PAULO (WiMAX Day). The leading pay TV operator in Brazil is ready to deploy a mobile WiMAX network, but is awaiting the approval of Brazil’s telecommunications regulator Agência Nacional de Telecomunicações (Anatel). The company, which is owned by Telefonica, began testing WiMAX earlier this year in São Paulo with Nortel, and in Rio de Janeiro with Motorola, with both tests using 2.5 GHz frequencies.

TVA says that it is now ready to launch WiMAX first in the city of Curitiba. According to Leila Loria, director superintendent of TVA, “the launch was to have happened by the end of this year, but we have not had the approval of Anatel.”

The delay with Anatel stems from the fact that TVA had intended to offer mobile WiMAX services. However Anatel will only permit fixed version of WiMAX to be offered in Brazil. “This is because there are issues with the type of services offered, which compete with permits of some mobile operators,” said Eduardo Koki, manager of executive products at TVA, from a report in the local journal Fohla de São Paulo.

TVA will now proceed to offer fixed WiMAX services until Anatel approves its 2.5 GHz license for mobile WiMAX, however approval is still required before the services can be offered. It is unlikely that Anatel will give its approval before February 2008.