Telefonica and Vivo have approved the exchange ratio for their planned merger. Each Vivo share will be exchanged for 1.55 new Telesp shares.
The transaction awaits for approval by Vivo and Telesp shareholders. Following the completion of the merger, Telefonica will own 73.8 percent of the total share capital of Telesp.
Vivo has announced that it will shut its CDMA network in September.
The company did not reveal how many customers are still using this technology, but noted that they are being warned in advance about the need to purchase a GSM handset.
Vivo’s CDMA coverage in the South, the interior of Sao Paulo and a part of the Midwest was provided by Motorola. The rest of Brazil was divided between Nortel and Alcatel-Lucent.
Oberthur Technologies has announced that it has won a contract from Brazil’s Vivo to manage the activation of SIM cards in flow through Smart HLR, its remote activation platform. Oberthur Technologies will rely on ATS to deploy Vivo’s Platform.
Smart HLR detects first-time user registration and then allocates a mobile number.
This software service intends to support mobile operators to reduce SIM card logistics costs and to optimize their network, hence, no more need to stock pre-activated subscriber identification modules. In addition to this, operators can offer their clients the possibility to choose golden mobile numbers according to their preferences.
Brazilian mobile operator Vivo has launched a pre-paid internet plan for US$5.94 per 30 days, or for US$0.19 per day.
When withdrawing the subscription, the value of the Vivo Internet Brazil Pre Internet is automatically deducted from the total credits of the subscriber.
Customers can try out the service for ten days, by requesting it via SMS. Customers can also contract the service using an SMS. The service is compatible with WAP devices and smart phones and provides for a monthly use of up to 20 MB of data at a maximum speed of 1 Mbps. If this limit is exceeded, the speed is reduced to 32 kbps.
Portugal Telecom SGPS SA has announced that its fourth-quarter net profit dropped by 83% due to restructuring costs and a decline in domestic wireline and mobile revenue.
According to the company, net profit fell to US$75.05 million in the fourth-quarter from US$429.83 million a year earlier. PT’s fourth-quarter earnings were the first to not include a contribution from Brazilian mobile telephone company Vivo Participacoes SA after the company sold its stake in Vivo to Telefonica SA in September for US$10.32 billion.
PT restated its earnings for the rest of 2010 and for 2009 to remove Vivo’s operating results. The company’s 2010 net profit, however, was maintained by a first installment of the payment from Telefonica of US$7.57 billion. PT’s 2010 net profit rose to US$7.79 billion from US$942.96 million in 2009.
PT’s fourth-quarter wireline revenue dropped 5% to US$655.96 million, while mobile revenue fell around 11% to US$471.14 million. Total fourth-quarter revenue dropped to US$1.30 billion.
In the fourth quarter, PT was also hit by US$185.50 million in restructuring costs, mainly related to workforce reductions and other cost efficiency efforts.
Fourth-quarter earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization decreased to US$499.23 million.
Portugal Telecom (PT) has announced that it has bought more than 22% stake in Brazilian telecommunications company Oi for US$4.99 billion.
According to PT, the deal also involved the fusion of the two companies’ call centres in Brazil. Oi also planned to purchase a stake of up to 10% in the Portuguese firm. PT recently sold its share in Brazilian cell phone operator Vivo to Spain’s Telef³nica.
Portugal Telecom has announced that it had inked a deal to take a 22.38% stake in the Brazilian telecommunications company Telemar Norte Leste, also known as Oi.
The stake represents $5 billion in cash and awards Portugal Telecom significant corporate governance rights over the Brazilian company.
A deliberate partnership between the two companies reveals Portugal Telecom’s continued interest in the Brazilian market even after it sold its 50% stake in the Cellphone operator Vivo to Telef³nica of Spain in July.
As per the terms of its investment, Portugal Telecom can nominate one member and one alternate member to the board at the Oi subsidiary, TmarPart, as well as two members and two alternate members to the board of TNL.
The stake will also give Portugal Telecom a say in the nomination process for the chief executive of Oi.
According to Portugal Telecom, it hoped to contribute significantly to the improvement of Oi’s performance, citing its successful experience in fixed-to-mobile convergence, mobile broadband and pay TV, as ways it might do this.
Europe’s top competition regulator EU has stated that it has opened a formal investigation into a non-compete deal between Spanish and Portuguese telecommunications companies Telefonica SA and Portugal Telecom SGPS SA.
According to the European Commission, it will probe whether the two companies have broken EU law by agreeing not to compete with each other in their home markets. It states that the non-compete deal between the two companies was concluded last year when Telefonica acquired sole control over their Brazilian joint venture Vivo.
The Commission added that it will also investigate whether the non-compete agreement predates the Vivo deal, which is not concerned by this probe. A formal investigation does not imply that the companies have actually broken EU laws.
Vivo has revealed that it is planning to be integrated with its sister company Telesp.
In a securities filing the Brazilian mobile operator stated that merging with Telesp, a fixed line operator also owned by Telefonica, would cut costs and simplifies the shareholding structure.
Telefonica bought Portugal Telecom’s stake in Vivo for US$9.9 billion in July, becoming the controlling shareholder.
Anatel, Brazil’s national telecoms regulator has revealed that six groups have submitted proposals to bid for the country’s final 3G mobile frequencies the so-called H Band.
The six are domestic operators Vivo, Claro, TIM Brasil, Oi, Nextel and CTBC. The regulator has set up a Special Licensing Committee (CEL) which will assess the applications on 14 December. The H Band auction comprises 165 lots of spectrum with a minimum price of US$649 million, and US$410.31 million for leftover spectrum.
According to reports, at this stage though, only Nextel fulfils the basic stated requirement of the H Band auction i.e. as an iDEN digital trunking operator it will be classed as a new entrant in the GSM/W-CDMA market. As such, if it bids for the new licence it is understood that four GSM operators (Vivo, Claro, TIM Brasil and Oi) will be restricted to bidding for the frequencies as extension bands. If Nextel and CTBC fails to express an interest in the H Band, the other operators will be allowed to compete.
