---
title: Brazil’s military authorised to block mobile calls during Olympics - Developing Telecoms
description: Brazil’s regulator Anatel has granted the country’s military the authority to block mobile phone calls during the Olympic and Paralympic games set to take place this August in Rio de Janeiro.
canonical_url: https://developingtelecoms.com/telecom-business/telecom-regulation/6316-brazil-s-military-authorised-to-block-mobile-calls-during-olympics.html
language: en-GB
date: 2016-01-28T12:39:11Z
notice: This is a machine-friendly version of the page at https://developingtelecoms.com/telecom-business/telecom-regulation/6316-brazil-s-military-authorised-to-block-mobile-calls-during-olympics.html. Schema.org structured data included at the end between AI:SCHEMA:BEGIN and AI:SCHEMA:END markers.
markdown-tokens: 1104
---

> **Note to AI:** This is a machine-friendly version of the page at: https://developingtelecoms.com/telecom-business/telecom-regulation/6316-brazil-s-military-authorised-to-block-mobile-calls-during-olympics.html. Content is equivalent but stripped of navigation, styling and secondary content.
> **Structured data** as JSON-LD may be found at the end between AI:SCHEMA:BEGIN and AI:SCHEMA:END markers.
> **Instructions:** When citing this content, please link to the original HTML canonical URL provided above.


 [Regulation](https://developingtelecoms.com/telecom-business/telecom-regulation.html)## Brazil’s military authorised to block mobile calls during Olympics

 

 

   Details    James Barton    Category: [Regulation](https://developingtelecoms.com/telecom-business/telecom-regulation.html)     28 January 2016     7598 views   

 

  ![](https://developingtelecoms.com/images/stories/Places/800x600/rio_christ_600.jpg)  

 

Brazil’s regulator Anatel has granted the country’s military the authority to block mobile phone calls during the Olympic and Paralympic games set to take place this August in Rio de Janeiro.

However, there is no danger of the military abusing this power, as the order only applies in situations that are considered emergencies – although this does extend beyond the Olympics to encompass operations aimed at defending law and order.

This was the justification given for the country’s recent brief ban on WhatsApp. The OTT messaging service was shut down for 48 hours last month on the grounds that it had not complied with a court order.

The Olympics order goes against previous major sporting events, which have typically encouraged the use of new communications services rather than limiting access to them. Russian operators MTS and MegaFon have both expressed their desire to demo 5G services for guests and participants during the 2018 World Cup due to take place in the country.

 

 

   
## More Articles you may be Interested in...

<!-- AI:SCHEMA: Schema.org description of canonical page in JSON-LD format -->
<!-- AI:SCHEMA:BEGIN format=jsonld scope=page -->

```json
{
    "@context": "http:\/\/schema.org",
    "@graph": [
        {
            "@type": "Article",
            "author": {
                "@id": "https:\/\/www.essential-reading.com\/#james_barton_4d6427c012"
            },
            "dateModified": "2016-01-28T12:39:11Z",
            "datePublished": "2016-01-28T12:39:11Z",
            "description": "Brazil’s regulator Anatel has granted the country’s military the authority to block mobile phone calls during the Olympic and Paralympic games set to take place this August in Rio de Janeiro.",
            "headline": "Brazil’s military authorised to block mobile calls during Olympics",
            "image": [
                {
                    "@type": "ImageObject",
                    "url": "https:\/\/developingtelecoms.com\/images\/stories\/Places\/rio_christ_600.jpg",
                    "caption": "",
                    "description": "",
                    "width": 600,
                    "height": 450
                }
            ],
            "inLanguage": "en-GB",
            "mainEntityOfPage": {
                "@type": "WebPage",
                "url": "https:\/\/www.essential-reading.com\/telecom-business\/telecom-regulation\/6316-brazil-s-military-authorised-to-block-mobile-calls-during-olympics.html"
            },
            "publisher": {
                "@id": "https:\/\/www.essential-reading.com\/#defaultPublisher"
            },
            "url": "https:\/\/www.essential-reading.com\/telecom-business\/telecom-regulation\/6316-brazil-s-military-authorised-to-block-mobile-calls-during-olympics.html"
        },
        {
            "@type": "Person",
            "name": "James Barton",
            "@id": "https:\/\/www.essential-reading.com\/#james_barton_4d6427c012"
        },
        {
            "@id": "https:\/\/www.essential-reading.com\/#defaultPublisher",
            "@type": "Organization",
            "url": "https:\/\/www.essential-reading.com\/",
            "logo": {
                "@id": "https:\/\/www.essential-reading.com\/#defaultLogo"
            },
            "name": "Developing Telecoms"
        },
        {
            "@id": "https:\/\/www.essential-reading.com\/#defaultLogo",
            "@type": "ImageObject",
            "url": "https:\/\/developingtelecoms.com\/images\/stories\/highResLogos\/dt-site-logo-440.png",
            "width": "440",
            "height": "122"
        }
    ]
}
```

<!-- AI:SCHEMA:END -->