The company Claro was the winner of the tender aimed at supplying mobile phones and mobile telephony services to senators and other parliament employees, according to Tender 290/2026. The total estimated value for this contract is R$ 4.96 million, which will cover the distribution of 425 devices and the respective plans for calls and mobile data.
Starting in January 2027, each senator will receive an iPhone 18 Pro, while the remaining 330 staff members will be equipped with Android devices, such as the Samsung Galaxy A37 5G and the Moto G86 5G. Additionally, all users will be entitled to a 50 GB internet browsing allowance, among other benefits.
It is important to note that the cell phones will be provided under a loan agreement (comodato), meaning it is a loan granted by Claro. The equipment will be renewed with newer models in 2029, and this replacement will continue following the same pattern until 2031 and subsequent years, if the agreement remains in force. The information about the process was disclosed by UOL.
The disclosure of this public notice generated intense discussions both in the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies, provoking criticism from congressmen, both those linked to the government base and the opposition. Parliamentarians such as Tabata Amaral (PSB-SP) and Nikolas Ferreira (PL-MG) expressed their disagreement with the presented public notice.
Senator Cleitinho (Republicanos-MG) even promoted a public consultation that received over 33 thousand votes in favor of vetoing the acquisition of iPhones by the Senate. In response to the reactions of society and colleagues, the President of the House, Davi Alcolumbre (União-AP), clarified that the public notice does not refer to the purchase of the devices, but rather to their loan.
This new proposal aims to replace a previous contract from 2022, which had guaranteed 93 iPhone 13 Pro devices for senators and directors, in addition to 290 intermediate devices for other staff. The tender recently won by Claro provides for the loan of more modern models to legislators, along with periodic device replacement every two years.
The operator will be responsible for all iPhone 18 Pro and other devices supplied to the Senate, in addition to providing mobile communication services for the institution. Although the initial budget planned for the tender was around R$ 6 million, the proposal presented by Claro totals R$ 4,957,905.60. The agreement will take effect on January 1, 2027, pending final approval by the Senate, which still needs to ratify the decision to proceed with the contracted service.
