Brazil's Anatel Approves R$375 Million AI Data Centre Funded by 5G Auction Leftovers

Anatel's board of directors endorsed the plan on Wednesday, November 4. It also endorsed a R$1.28 billion programme to give TV 3.0 converter boxes to about 910,000 low-income families in São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and the Federal District, with priority for Bolsa Família recipients. Brazilian trade publication Telesíntese put the combined value of the two projects at R$1.655 billion, which Anatel rounded to about R$1.7 billion. Both were proposed by the EAF, the entity that manages the obligations operators took on in the 5G auction. Gaispi, the Anatel-led group that oversees those obligations, approved them on October 27.

The decision gives Brazil's federal government its own AI computing capacity for sensitive data without drawing on the regular budget. The money comes from funds operators had already committed under the auction. The facility is small next to commercial AI campuses. According to the technical analysis described by Teletime, its reference configuration has 48 GPUs and 2 megawatts of initial power, with possible expansion to 10 megawatts in two to three years.

Teletime reported that the site will have two modules: one for AI, with 20 racks, and a conventional IT module with 10 racks. The plan includes redundant power, liquid cooling for the AI equipment and two 100 Gbps external links. Telesíntese said the data centre will sit on a 5,000-square-metre plot owned by the federal government and connect to the federal administration's private communications network. Its location has not been disclosed.

The approval comes with conditions. According to Teletime, the Ministry of Communications and Telebras must sign a formal agreement on responsibilities for the infrastructure and its use before any contracts are awarded. The EAF will build the facility and transfer it to the federal government. It may not operate the facility, sell services from it or lease capacity to private companies. Hosting in the conventional module is limited to federal bodies. Recurring costs such as electricity, maintenance and security equipment cannot be paid from EAF or 5G auction funds. Any expansion beyond the approved configuration will need a fresh Anatel authorisation.

Teletime said the analysis behind those conditions came from substitute councillor Suzana Rodrigues. She warned that a high-density data centre with no secure source of funding for its running costs would quickly become an operational liability.

Edson Holanda, the Anatel councillor who chairs Gaispi, said the regulator had released about R$1.7 billion of auction leftovers for the two projects while keeping the original auction obligations intact, according to Telesíntese. He also said digital sovereignty had moved from a specialist subject to a matter of national security.

To protect those original obligations, the EAF is holding back about R$2 billion, including a 10% safety margin, and Anatel requires quarterly updates on the reserve. EAF studies cited by DPL News found about R$1.69 billion available for extra investment, almost all of which the two projects now take up.

The converter programme is expected to run for up to 24 months, with the city of São Paulo as the pilot. For the data centre, Teletime said the 12-month timeline is a planning target rather than a guarantee. Work will proceed in stages and depends on confirming the land, securing power, approving the engineering plans and passing security and performance tests. The next step is the agreement between the Ministry of Communications and Telebras, which must be signed before any contracts are awarded.