Tag Archives: Telefonica

Telefonica to Invest Heavily in Mobile Advertising in Brazil

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Telefónica Digital today announced that it will make a multi million euro investment to kick start its access to the mobile advertising market in Brazil. The investment will use the UK model as a blueprint, with a local team put in place to accelerate the deployment of platforms and capabilities to harness the significant opportunity in Brazil.

Within an overall Brazilian ad market of €15 billion, which increased by 11% in 2011, mobile advertising is growing faster than in Western Europe, driven by the rapidly expanding adoption of smartphones.

The creation of a specialist mobile advertising team in Brazil will enable Telefónica and Vivo, its commercial brand, to drive revenues through faster implementation of media products and services. This includes push messaging, display advertising, loyalty products and location-based marketing.

Telefónica is further able to leverage its experience in building the mobile advertising market in Europe where it now has 23m customers opted in to receive tailored marketing communications via mobile.

“Brazil is booming and the advertising market is growing faster than Western Europe”, said Shaun Gregory, Director of Advertising at Telefónica Digital. “We will invest to build and deploy the best platforms, provide real time capabilities and accelerate these plans through acquiring the best people. Brazil is an exciting market for brands and agency groups, and we fully intend to leverage our knowledge and experience in other markets to make Brazil another important piece of the Telefonica global advertising family”

Telefónica Digital will take the learnings from the Brazilian market in developing its capabilities across the region.

Iusacell and Telefonica Agree to Share Network Infrastructure

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Mexican mobile network, Iusacell and Telefonica’s local subsidiary have jointly announced an agreement to share their network infrastructure in the country.

The combined network will also start LTE trials later this year in anticipation of a commercial launch in 2013.

Under the terms of the agreement, which is slated to last for at least five years, Iusacell will gain access to Telefonica’s rural network, while Telefonica should be able to improve coverage in the cities, where Iusacell is stronger.

The network sharing deal is limited to their towers and fibre-optic networks. Where one network has coverage that the other lacks, roaming between the networks will be possible.

The companies declined to detail any commercial aspects of the deal, which still needs clearance from the regulator.

The move may help the two companies cut costs and compete with America Movil, which dominates the Mexican market with a market share of around 70%..

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USA questions Telefonica over Cuban relations

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The US government is continuing to question Spanish companies that do business in Cuba, a country Washington has designated as a “state sponsor of terrorism”, El Pais reports.

In this latest query, the US Security and Exchange Commission reminded Telefonica president Cesar Alierta in a November 2011 letter that it had warned Telefonica in 2009 about its affiliates in Cuba, including Telefonica Data Cuba. In a response letter dated 30 December 2011, Telefonica told the SEC that it had sold its shares in Data Cuba in 2005 and said it has no plans for future investment in Caribbean island. Accordng to the same source, In Telefonica’s letter, which was confidential, phone officials say that they contacted the Cuban government concerning the possible sale of the state-run operator Etecsa but no agreement was ever reached.

Telefonica to cut 1,500 jobs in Brazil

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Telefonica has reached an agreement with workers unions in Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro states and is launching a voluntary layoff programme.

The measure follows the merger of Telefonica’s fixed and mobile operations, the WSJ reports, citing a statement by the Sao Paulo state telecom workers union (Sintetel). According to Sintetel, Telefonica wanted a broader reduction in force, but the unions were able to negotiate it down to 1,500.

The union did now disclose how many job cuts were originally sought. The job cuts are equivalent to about 8 percent of the operator’s total workforce of 18,885 as of December 2011. Employees can sign up for a voluntary redundancy program between 12 and 14 March, the union said.

New Mobile Operators in Costa Rica disrupt ICE

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The two new mobile networks in Costa Rica have signed up around 500,000 customers since they launched last December.

According to Inside Costa Rica, Telefonica’s Movistar has some 300,000 customers, while America Movil’s Claro network has the remaining 200,000 customers.

It was not clear yet if these are customers closing their account with the former incumbent network, ICE or if they are holding dual SIM cards.

Both Telefonica and America Movil were granted licenses last January to break the monopoly held by ICE. The two companies paid US$95 million and US$77 million respectively for their licenses.

The government was obliged to open up the market to competition as a condition of entry into the Central American Free-Trade Agreement.

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Telefonica plans e-book launch to compete with Amazon

High Tech, Telecoms, , ,

Telefonica plans to set up a unit selling electronic books in partnership with German media corporation Bertelsmann and Spanish book publisher Grupo Planeta. The unit would compete with Amazon.com in Latin America, local newspaper Expansion reports, without citing sources.

Telefonica will supply the technology platform and likely take a 50 percent stake while Bertelsmann and Planeta, through their joint venture Circulo de Lectores, will supply the content and own the rest of the business, Bloomberg reports.

Telefonica Peru pays nearly $50 million in back taxes

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Telefonica del Peru has paid around USD 49.7 million in back taxes to the country’s Securities Market Superintendency, Peruvian news service Andina reports.

Back in 2011, the Peruvian tax authority Sunat said Telefonica owes the state at least USD 850 million in taxes and accumulated interest for the 2000/2001 period. The case is currently working its way through Peruvian courts. The dispute is expected to determine Movistar’s mobile concession renewal.

Telefonica and the Peruvian Ministry of Transport and Communications have been negotiating since August 2011 the operator’s mobile license renewal for the next 20 years. The operator’s mobile licence in Lima expired in 2011, while its license for operations in the rest of the country expires this year.