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Oi set to launch mobile services in Sao Paulo, 3G by Q1′09 (Brazil)

  • October 6th, 2008
  • 10:04 am

Oi is all set to kickstart the commercial mobile services in Sao Paulo. The telco already has 100,000 sales points in the state and soon the marketing campaign via TV ads will start. Oi which is active in nearly 16 Brazilian states will be competing with four operators, Vivo, TIM, Claro and Aeiou, in Sao Paulo. Oi gives free airtime of BRL 20 per day for the first three months to make calls to Oi mobile subscribers or fixed lines and send texts to any operator, for people who subscribe to Oi before 23 October.
Ifa subscriber sticks to Oi for an year, will continue to receive BRL 20 in extra credit in each month he tops up for at least BRL 10. Another good news is that the mobile operator plans to launch 3G service in Sau Paulo by Q1′09.

   

Oi proclaimes the issuing of unsecured bond worth US$1.5 billion (Brazil)

  • September 4th, 2008
  • 12:55 pm

According to a local media report, Oi (Telemar), Tele Norte Leste Participacoes plans to issue senior unsecured bonds worth USD1.5 billion in the foreign market. It is very well understood that the notes will be issued in three tranches, maturing in 2014, 2019 and 2038, respectively. The size of each specific placement will be determined at a later date and the funds raised will be utilized for the acquisition of fellow telecoms group Brasil Telecom – subject to the deal receiving the necessary regulatory go-ahead from the government. Citi, Santander, Bradesco’s investment bank BBI, BB Securities and Itau BBA will be the banks who are coordinating the issue.

Brazil’s justice ministry plants an eagle eye on top mobile operators (Brazil)

  • August 26th, 2008
  • 12:48 pm

Brazil’s justice ministry has begun an investigation into possible anti-competitive practices at the leading mobile operators Vivo, Claro, TIM and Oi. The companies together control over 95 % of mobile users in Brazil. Ministry is pointing finger at the operators for setting interconnection rates that prevent the successful entry of smaller operators on the market. In addition to the price squeeze, the competition authorities found evidence of possible collusion between Vivo, TIM and Claro to set interconnection rates. Ministry has asked market regulator Anatel to develop a cost-based model for determining the termination rates. Secretariat at the ministry, SDE, with the help of the competition authority DPDE is heading the investigation.

Oi purchases 3.9 million preferred shares of Tele Norte Celular (Brazil)

  • August 21st, 2008
  • 1:50 pm

Oi (Telemar), Brazil, in a public offer, has purchased 3.9 million preferred shares of Tele Norte Celular Participacoes, the controller of regional mobile operator Amazonia Celular.
For the purchase Oi paid a total of BRL130 million (USD80.5 million) for the shares and it now holds 94% of the preferred shares and 59% of the capital stock of the company.

   

Antel make a move to compete with Movistar, Claro (Uruguay)

  • August 18th, 2008
  • 7:37 am

According to local media report, Administracion Nacional de Telecomunicaciones (Antel), Uruguay’s state-owned telecommunications company, is interested in taking part in an alliance of regional communication companies. The aim is to have better way to compete against foreign multinationals such as Movistar and Claro. According to Antel’s president Edgardo Carvalho, the company has held meetings with executives of Brazilian group Oi, which is currently undergoing a merger process, after acquiring its competitor Brasil Telecom. The new company is seeking strategic South American allies to form an important conglomerate, able to compete against Claro and Movistar, Carvalho revealed.

Oi aims to reach the mark of 21mln subscribers by the year end (Brazil)

  • August 18th, 2008
  • 6:34 am

Oi (Telemar), Brazilian telecoms operator anticipates its total client base to reach 21 million by the end of 2008 said the company’s Chief Executive Officer Jose Luis Salazar. Last year On 31 December, the group’s overall subscriber base, including fixed line, mobile and broadband users, totalled around 16 million according to the statistics.

Brazil’s mobile market profile (Brazil)

  • August 8th, 2008
  • 6:06 am

Brazil’s mobile market is the fifth largest in the world, in terms of subscribers. Although Brazil holds almost one third of all the mobile users in Latin America, its mobile penetration is lower than the regional average. Brazil is lagging behind the rest of the region in SMS traffic, with text messages cost more than any other Latin American country. Number portability is to be implemented by March 2009. A 3G-spectrum auction in December 2007 was a huge success, and 2008 has been marked by 3G rollouts throughout the country with almost all operators – except for the market leader, Vivo – offering UMTS services.

A sale of 2.6 million mobile phones took place last month, Brazil reached 133.15 million mobile subscribers at the end of June’08, or 1.99% more than in May’08. The mobile penetration rate currently stands at 69.52 percent.

Brazil’s four major mobile operators, Vivo, TIM, Claro, and Oi, together hold about 91% of the market. Eight Brazilian mobile operators, Vivo, TIM Brasil, Claro, Oi, Brasil Telecom, Sercomtel, Nextel, and CTBC Telecom Celular, are reportedly functioning together to develop and launch IM services nationwide. Under the service the subscribers can exchange messages with users on each other’s network.

Vivo, Brazil’s number one mobile operator by subscribers, posted a net loss of BRL59.5 million (USD38 million) in the three months to end-June, EBITDA rose 16% from BRL756 million to BRL879 million . The subscriber base grew to 40.4 million subscribers, up by 19.4%, 7.7 million are post-paid and the remaining 32.7 pre-paid. Vivo leads with 30.36% market share this June.

Brasil Telecom earned a revenue of US$ 1.75 Billion, up by 2.9% in Q2′08, EBITDA reached US$ 0.70Billion (BRL 1.13 billion), up 16.4% BrT Movel registered 5 million mobile subscribers at the end of the period, up by 33.1% Brasil Telecom’s investments were estimated at US$ 509.8million (BRL 812.4 million), up by 168.5% versus last year, the reason being the 3G license acquisition and implementation of the new network.

Oi shows revenues up by 8.7%. Drop in Net profit, 46.8% to BRL 249 million, Mobile ARPU has improved to BRL 22.0 from BRL 21.3 in the first quarter, while churn increased to 6.8%.

   

8 Brazilian operators team up to develop IM services (Brazil)

  • August 6th, 2008
  • 2:10 pm

Eight Brazilian mobile operators, Vivo, TIM Brasil, Claro, Oi, Brasil Telecom, Sercomtel, Nextel, and CTBC Telecom Celular, are reportedly functioning together to develop and launch IM services nationwide.
Under the service the subscribers can exchange messages with users on each other’s network.

   

Oi’s revenue grows by 8.7%, net profit drops to half (Brazil)

  • August 4th, 2008
  • 12:04 pm

Oi (Brazilian operator) shows revenues up by 8.7% from a year earlier in the second quarter. Its takeover of Mobile Operators Amazonia and Tele Norte has helped in bringing the revenues to BRL 6.752 billion . Mobile activities are the factors behind the growth, Sales have increased 53.3 percent from a year ago to BRL 1.576 billion. Due to fall in voice services, Wireline sales were down 0.1% to BRL 5.176 billion. Drop in Net profit, 46.8 percent to BRL 249 million, has been imapcted by higher depreciation and amortisation and charges for changes in equity.

The period is over with 36.1 million revenue-generating units where 2.9 million is added during the quarter and it also includes 1.47 million from Tele Norte and Amazonia. At the end of the june, the mobile base rose to 20.3 million customers from 17.3 million in March, of which 84 percent used prepaid services. Mobile ARPU has improved to BRL 22.0 from BRL 21.3 in the first quarteer, while churn increased to 6.8 percent.

Oi to raise $1.92 billion for Brasil Telecom takeover (Brazil)

  • August 4th, 2008
  • 5:00 am

Oi Participacoes, Brazil, has announced it’s plans to raise $1.92 billion by the end of October in order to complete it’s financial plan to take over Brasil Telecom.

According to Chief Financial Officer Jose Luis Salazar, Oi has already raised 65% of 12 reais it needs for the purchase.

For the purchase of Brasil Telecom, Oi total debt jumped about 55% from a year earlier.