No doubt about it, Brazil is considered a gold mine for both Telefónica and Portugal Telecom (PT). Both are offering mobile services through a 50-50 Joint Venture although they would love to dominate that market on their own. Telefónica has greater financial muscle and has therefore attempted to convince PT several times in selling its 50% stake in Vivo, the largest mobile operator in the country. Last week, Telefónica tried again offering €5,700 million. The PT board unanimously rejected the offer, considering Vivo a key asset for the company’s strategy, and its sale would go against PT long-term growth prospects.
Later in the week, it was reported that Telefónica could consider buying PT after the rejection of its offer. PT could still change its mind, as the offering is open until mid June. Needless to say, PT did not like speculation around the Spanish operator intention to get all PT as to acquire Vivo.
Vivo had a busy week last week and while Telefónica and PT were discussing its future structure, Vivo´s president, Roberto Lima, said that it is impossible to offer mobile broadband access for US$8.5 as suggested by the National Broadband Plan, which is being addressed in Brazil. According to Lima, the lowest price at which mobile broadband could be offer would be US$16,9, assuming always a set up a download limit per user. The National Broadband Plan hopes to offer broadband services to 27 million households in Brazil by 2014, of which 4.6 million would access the service via 3G networks.
In Mexico, mobile operator Iusacell will appeal its disqualification from the CFE fiber tender, the company announced later last week. The Secretary of Communications and Transport (SCT) expelled Iusacell from the Federal Electricity Commission (CFE) fiber optic project tender arguing the operator failed to properly submit all information required. Iusacell does not dispute such claim but considers it is not sufficient to justify its expulsion. The company plans legal actions if it is not allowed to participate.
Smartphone sales will grow 33% CAGR in Latin America between 2010 and 2015, Coda Research Consultancy said last week. Worldwide growth it is expected to be 24%.
In Costa Rica opening up the telecom market is taking forever. The Superintendence of Telecommunications (Sutel) reported that the awarding of the three mobile licenses could take between six to nine months.However, this period is without taking into consideration possible delays due to operators’ disagreement with the final outcome. Five operators have shown interest in participating: Cable & Wireless, America Movil, Movistar, Digicel and Millicom. With the entry of three of these groups, Costa Rica would have four mobile service providers.
In Venezuela Movistar reacted to accusations of offering a bad service and speculating with users rights. Earlier this week, the Public Services Subcommittee agreed to submit to the Supreme Court of Justice of Venezuela a lawsuit against mobile operators for fraud and intentionally offer a deficient service.
Deputy Angel Landaeta accused operators, especially Movistar, to speculate with its service offering for its own benefit. Movistar reacted by issuing a press release on its website arguing it is open to cooperate with the authorities to sort those accusations out.
In Colombia, ETB is in the process of finding a strategic partner to assure its future growth and competitive edge. After several delays, the operator said that it would have signed with its future strategic partner by the end of 2010. The operator made that statement after the process had to be postponed for 30 days at the request of the companies trying to become its strategic partner.
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QuovisMedia Team