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Senator Alan Rick (Union-AC) defended on Tuesday (5), in the Commission on Economic Affairs, the approval of Bill 426/2023, which provides for the exemption of rates and contributions on telecommunications infrastructure installed in rural areas. Rapporteur of the article in CAE, the parliamentarian presented a favorable opinion with modifications that expand the reach of the proposal.
“We are proposing an even broader measure, through an amendment that also includes the exemption of contributions destined to the FUST (Telecommunications Services Universalization Fund) and Funttel (Fund for Telecommunications Technological Development),” said the senator. “The idea is to correct distortions and create a tax environment more favorable to investments in field connectivity,” he added.
Authored by the Science, Technology, Innovation and Informatics Commission (CCT), the project originally zeroed the values only of the Surveillance Rate (Fistel), the Condecine and the contribution to the promotion of public broadcasting incidents on Radio Base Stations and repeats personal mobile service installed in rural areas.
Alan Rick highlighted the mismatch between the collection of sectoral funds and their effective application in the expansion of connectivity.
“Between 2020 and 2024, the collection reaches tens of billions of reais. Only Condecine raised more than $ 1.2 billion in 2024.
Meanwhile, the estimated fiscal waiver with the approval of the proposal is only R $ 8.6 million in 2026. It is tiny in the face of the benefit of bringing the internet to thousands of Brazilians who still live without access, ”he argued.
The senator stressed that connectivity in the field is a basic condition for modernizing agribusiness, expanding productivity and ensuring access to education, health and digital inclusion.
“We are talking about productive inclusion, social justice and reduction of regional inequalities. Therefore, I ask the support of colleagues senators for the approval of the matter,” he concluded.
The bill should be voted at the next meeting of the Economic Affairs Committee, before going to the Senate Plenary.
