"It's very good for the market to grow, but quality and customer service has to go with it," he said. The sales ban was "tough and drastic," he said, adding it was also necessary to get the companies to act.

If the companies were surprised when Anatel imposed the ban, it wasn't because the rules had changed--it was because the service providers didn't think the regulator would go so far, Mr. Bernardo said.

The companies handed in their plans in the days following the ban, and were asked by Anatel to provide more information before it would let them start selling again. The investment plans involved speeding up or redirecting investment to deal with the problems, rather than increasing the amounts they would spend.

The phone companies also complained about issues over which they had no control, such as the difficulty of getting licenses to build antenna towers in places where property titles are difficult to track down, or where towns resisted granting licenses.