Brazil’s Administrative Council for Economic Defense (Cade) approved without restrictions the merger of mobile network operator, Oi and Portugal Telecom, according to Reuters.
The decision by the competition regulator supported the claims of the two companies that the merger does not generate significant vertical or horizontal concentration in the market.
Oi and Portugal Telecom announced the merger in October 2013, yet it still remains subject to approval by shareholders.
Portugal Telecom issued a statement saying it has no plans to take control of or make an offer for the rest of Brazilian operator Oi. The Portuguese operator said that, together with Oi’s controlling shareholders, it “regularly review proposals which may enhance operational performance and governance to extract additional synergies especially in the areas of engineering, network, technology, innovation and services“.
The statement follows a report in the Portuguese daily Sol, which said that a possible merger of Portugal Telecom and Oi is being examined by the management teams of both companies. The report said that Portugal Telecom CEO Zeinal Bava is “the best positioned candidate” to lead the project.
Brazil magazine Veja reported that the Jereissati and Andrade families were in talks to sell Oi for BRL 2 billion (USD 985 million). Carlos Jereissati and Sergio Andrade would each sell a stake of 19.35 percent in Oi, the report said without naming its sources.
Vivo, Claro, TIM Brasil and Oi have been chosen to provide the 4G mobile internet service in Brazil. The companies submitted bids of BRL 1.05 billion, BRL 630.191 million, BRL 340 million and BRL 330.851 million respectively, winning the spectrum auction held on 12 June by the National Telecommunications Agency (Anatel)
Frequencies in the 450 MHz band for rural mobile telephony were auctioned, too, and as there were no bids, the four operators that won the 4G auction will also be required to invest in that segment.
In the 4G auction notice, Anatel did not define what internet speeds operators must offer for the 2.5 GHz band service. For the 450 MHz band, the download speed must be at least 256 Kbps and the upload speed, 128 Kbps. In addition to the national and rural telephony lots, Anatel is also auctioning 268 lots of frequency bands for regional operations, and Sky Brasil won at least ten lots.
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Brazil ended March 2012 with more than 250.8 million active mobile subscribers, of which 52 million were 3G, representing growth of 10.11 percent from 47.2 million 3G handsets in February 2012.
The mobile phone penetration rate rose to 128 percent. Of the total mobile phones in the country, 205.2 million were prepaid (81.83%) and 45.6 million postpaid (18.17%). The absolute number of new additions (3.2 million) is the largest recorded for the month of March in the last thirteen years and represents an increase of 1.30 percent compared with February 2012, according to statement from the National Telecommunications Agency (Anatel).
Maranhao remains the only Brazilian state with less than one mobile phone per capita density (84.4).
Vivo is still the market leader with 74.78 million subscribers (29.81% market share), followed by TIM with 67.2 million subscribers (26.80%), and Claro in third position with 61.59 million subscribers (24.56%). Oi appears in fourth place with 46.69 million active subscribers (18.53%) and was the only one to see its market share shrink in comparison with the previous month. In percentage terms, Claro was the operator with the highest growth.
Nokia Siemens Networks ended a service deal with Oi in Brazil, resulting in 3,500 job cuts on top of 17,000 already announced.
Most of the employees involved have left the company, Ben Roome, a spokesman for Nokia Siemens, said by e-mail. Reuters reported the news earlier today.
Nokia Siemens announced a five-year field maintenance deal with Oi, the telephone services brand of Telemar Norte Leste SA (TMAR5), in 2009, taking on about 3,000 Oi and third-party employees. The company is cutting about 17,000 jobs in its main businesses as it pares business lines to focus on mobile broadband equipment and related services.
“The exit obviously contributes to our focus and cost- reduction plans,” Roome said. It doesn’t affect the company’s Sao Paulo global network operations center, he added.
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Brazil finished 2011 with more than 242.2 million mobile phone lines, after adding 39.3 million new subscribers last year. The country’s mobile penetration reached 123.87 percent at the end of 2011, according to figures from market regulator Anatel.
New additions were the highest in the past twelve years and totaled 6.1 million in December alone. Of the total base, 191.2 million were prepaid (81.81%) and 44 million postpaid (18.19%). Vivo finished in first place with 29.54 percent or 71.55 million subscribers. TIM Brazil surpassed rival Claro to take second place with 26.46 percent or 64.08 million customers. Claro Brazil ended the year with 24.93 percent or 60.38 million subscribers. Oi was in fourth position with 18.78 percent or 45.48 mil lion subscribers, and regional operator CTBC closed the year with 653,905 subscribers, accounting for 0.07 percent.
3G handsets (phones and mobile devices) totalled more than 41.1 million in Brazil last year, which means an increase of 99.31 percent compared to 2010.
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Brazil ended the month of October with more than 231.6 million active mobile phones.
In the first ten months of 2011, the mobile service registered nearly 28.7 million new activations, and only in October, the market added almost 4.3 million mobile lines, The mobile penetration rate stood at 118.62 percent in October, an increase of 13.32 percent in the year. Mobile broadband totaled over 37.6 million accesses, growing 82.36 percent in the year.
According to the Anatel data, Vivo added 1.54 million new subscribers in October, ending the month with 68.59 million clients (29.61 percent of the total). Second-place TIM added 1.01 million new subscribers, taking the total to 60.22 million (26%). Claro added to its base 866,990 new subscribers in October, ending the month with 58.38 million clients (25.20%). Oi remained fourth, adding 849,172 new subscribers to reach a new total of 43.69 million clients (18.86%). CTBC and Sercomtel placed fifth and sixth, respectively.