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Upaid’s new Online Top-Up service for Brazilians. (Brazil)

  • July 15th, 2008
  • 10:56 am

People living in the USA can for the first time top-up the phones of their friends and family in Brazil, thanks to a new online service from payments specialist Upaid Systems.

RechargeBrazil.com is the first website of its kind: a bilingual English/Brazilian-Portuguese service accessible via any internet connection. Traditional long-distance phone recharge services have
required purchasing credit in a participating shop.

“RechargeBrazil is the latest ground-breaking service from Upaid and a real step forward for expatriate Brazilians living in the US,” said Simon Joyce, Upaid CEO. “It further broadens Upaid’s portfolio of over a thousand patents covering markets from Asia to the Americas.”

Upaid customers can already pay bills, make credit card payments, and top-up phone credit via a mobile handset. RechargeBrazil.com represents a first move into online services for Upaid, the international mobile payments specialist operating since 1997 and headquartered in the UK.

“Upaid investors can be proud of the new service, and confident it will bring still more value to the company,” said Joyce. Investors include billionaire investment banker Kenneth Langone and the Zeist Foundation: a charitable trust for underprivileged children and adolescents.

Working with PayPal, the global leader in safer online payments, RechargeBrazil.com has been launched with a consortium of Brazilian mobile operators including Vivo, Claro, TIM, Telefonica and Embratel. It is also available for Brazilian Portuguese speakers as RecargaBrasil.com.

PayPal customers can easily send phone credit to family and friends in Brazil by entering the mobile operator, location and telephone number of the person they wish to send phone credit to.

Alberto Rodrigues, Regional Operations Manager of Upaid Brazil commented, “RechargeBrazil.com is an innovative service that showcases the payment technology offerings of Upaid, creating a unique service and enabling users to top-up mobile phones in Brazil quickly, safely and securely.”

Vivo leads Brazilian mobile market, but share slips again in March

  • April 21st, 2008
  • 2:30 pm

Vivo Participacoes led the Brazilian mobile market with a 27.28% share at the end of March, although this figure was down 0.04 percentage points compared to February, writes BNamericas citing data published by the telecoms regulator Anatel. TIM Brasil claimed second place with 25.87%, down 0.19% on the previous month, while Telecom Americas (Claro), backed by Mexico’s America Movil, had 24.78% (24.80%). TNL PCS (Oi) was fourth with 13.78% of the market, closely followed by Telemig Celular and Amazonia Celular jointly in fifth with 4.29% (4.31%). Brazil Telecom took sixth spot with 3.64% of the market, up from 3.61% in February, and CTBC Celular’s also increased its market share marginally from 0.30% to 0.31%, while Sercomtel Celular remained unchanged with 0.06%.

Brazil was home to 126 million active mobile users by 31 March 2008, up 1.36% on the previous month. Of the total, 80.87% are pre-paid and 19.13% on monthly contracts.

   
 

Vivo increases 2008 CAPEX to BRL6.07bn (Brazil)

  • March 31st, 2008
  • 1:51 pm

Brazilian mobile operator Vivo has announced a tripling of its planned investment for 2008 to BRL6.07 billion (USD3.48 billion), up from BRL1.92 billion in 2007. It is not clear, however, if the proposed capital expenditure for the current year includes the BRL1.3 billion acquisition of rival carrier Telemig. Vivo’s CAPEX is considerably higher than the figures announced by rivals TIM Brasil (BRL3.6 billion) and Telecom Americas’ Claro unit (BRL700 million).

   

 

 

Brazil raises BRL 2.44 bln in first day of 3G auction (Brazil)

  • December 20th, 2007
  • 8:55 am

[Update] Brazil raised BRL 2.44 billion in the first day of its auction of 3G spectrum. The mobile telephony operators Vivo, Oi , Claro and TIM won the first lots in the auction, covering the states of Bahia, Sergipe, Rio de Janeiro and Espirito Santo. Vivo presented an offer 90 percent higher than the minimum set by market regulator Anatel for the first lot, paying BRL 310.3 million (EUR 118.4 million), while Oi bid BRL 467.9 million, TIM offered BRL 528 million and Claro paid BRL 612 million. Vivo also acquired a licence for the federal district and areas of Rio Grande do Sul, Santa Catarina, Parana, Mato Grosso do Sul, Mato Grosso, Goias Tocantins, Rondonia and Acre for a total BRL 528.2 million.

   

TIM, Claro win market share in October (Brazil)

  • November 26th, 2007
  • 3:09 pm

Brazilian mobile carrier Vivo had a 27.61 percent market share in October, while its major competitor TIM had 25.88 percent. The figures from regulatory agency Anatel show TIM edging higher from the previous month and a small drop in Vivo’s share. Claro was the third largest player in Brazil with 25.89 percent share, up from September, while Oi had 13.27 percent and Telemig Celular/Amazonia Celular had 4.41 percent. The technology GSM is the leader in the country with 86.6 million access lines, or 75.52 percent share. CDMA has 22 million accesses (19.26%) and TDMA has 5.9 million accesses (5.20%).

   

Anatel approves Telefonica, Telecom Italia acquisition (Brazil)

  • October 24th, 2007
  • 12:10 pm

Brazilian telecom regulator Anatel has approved the acqusition of part of Telecom Italia by a consortium made up of Telefonica and Italian banks. The regulator requested that, within six months time, Telefonica and Telecom Italia present a new shareholders agreement that guarantees “total disassociation” between the operations of mobile telephony operator Vivo, controlled by Telefonica and Portugal Telecom, and TIM Brasil, which belongs to the Italian group. Anatel established that, as a result of the operation, Telefonica could become a monopoly in the mobile sector, as Vivo and TIM hold, jointly, more than 50 percent of the national market. Each of the operators will have to maintain an independent management, with separate boards of directors.

   

Vivo loses share but remains market leader in September (Brazil)

  • October 23rd, 2007
  • 12:28 pm

Brazilian mobile telephony operator Vivo continued to lose market share in September, but maintained the leadership position by a small margin, according to figures from Anatel. The Brazilian telecom regulator said that Vivo’s market share was 27.78 percent in September, compared to 28.05 percent the previous month. Italy’s TIM was still second but increased its share from 25.71 percent in August to 25.87 percent in September. Third was Claro, with 24.82 percent versus 24.76 percent in August. It was followed by Oi, whose share increased from 13.12 percent to 13.21 percent. Anatel’s data also indicated that the total number of mobile telephony users in Brazil grew to 112.753 million.

   

Oi wins licence for Sao Paulo state (Brazil)

  • September 27th, 2007
  • 1:27 pm

Brazilian mobile operator Oi has won a tender for a mobile spectrum licence in Sao Paulo state. Sao Paulo state will now count five mobile carriers: Oi, Vivo, TIM, Claro and Unicel. Oi invested BRL 80.55 million to obtain the licence.

   

 

Ola Oi! Telco starts 2G auction with Sao Paulo win (Brazil)

  • September 26th, 2007
  • 1:58 pm

Brazilian telecoms group Oi (formerly Telemar) has won the first of 105 spectrum licences being auctioned off by the regulator Anatel. According to BNamericas, citing local daily Folha, the operator’s BRL80.6 million (USD43.3 million) bid for a licence covering Sao Paulo city, was successful, allowing Oi to compete against the country’s largest mobile operator Vivo in the most lucrative part of the latter’s coverage area. Oi also secured concessions in other parts of Sao Paulo state for BRL43.9 million, while Vivo won eight permits in Sao Paulo state and Sao Paulo city, as well as licences for parts of Rio de Janeiro, Espirito Santo, Minas Gerais, Parana and Santa Catarina states. BNamericas writes that Vivo began building out a GSM network this year but will use these latest licences to boost its traditional CDMA operation.

The regulator is auctioning a total of 105 blocks of spectrum distributed over 28 service areas and designated for 2G mobile services.

   
 

 

Seven operators submit bids for Brazil GSM auction (Brazil)

  • September 21st, 2007
  • 2:47 pm

Seven telecommunications operators have submitted bids for the auction of GSM frequencies organized by Brazilian telecom regulator Anatel. The participants include the following operators: Vivo, TIM, Oi, Claro, Unicel, Optiom and Easytone. The bids presented for the 105 lots of frequencies, remaining from previous auctions, in 28 different areas, will be opened on 25 September. The minimum prices set vary from BRL 9,300 to BRL 106.4 million. The auction is of principle interest for Vivo, as if it wins, the operator will be able to extend its coverage to six states in the Northeast (Piaui, Alagoas, Ceara, Paraiba, Pernambuco and Rio Grande do Norte), where it still operates in roaming. The frequencies acquired on the auction, however, can be used only after the regulator organizes the auction for the 3G licences, which should take place by the end of the year.