SAO PAULO, Brazil-Jarbas Valente, Anatel’s superintendent of private services, said he was surprised by the auction results for the surplus licenses in bands D and E for personal communications services. Anatel collected $262.2 million in the auction, or 31.31 percent more than the established minimum price.
The winners were Telecom Americas, Vesper and Brasil Telecom, which bought all the offered licenses except for area 10. For Valente, more important than the collected value was to see four mobile carriers established in all the Brazilian areas.
The Anatel superintendent hopes the authorization terms will be signed in the first few weeks of December. Market watchers said the country’s consolidation process is likely to begin next year, and the current winners will be involved in the process.
Brasil Telecom
Brasil Telecom, which has stakes in Telemig Celular and Amazonia Celular, bought PCS licenses for the entire area where it currently offers fixed telephony. With the acquisitions, Brasil Telecom enlarges its participation in mobile telephony, and at the same time, it makes rumors that it would be willing to buy Tele Centro-Oeste Celular (TCO) and BCP unlikely. The carrier also has adopted the model of the country’s other fixed carriers, like Telemar and Telefonica, which have both fixed and mobile operations.
After the auction, Manoel Ribeiro, Brasil Telecom’s executive superintendent, said the intention of the company is to begin to offer the mobile service in the beginning of 2004. Ribeiro explained that the company will “share to the maximum” its fixed and mobile infrastructure, and its objective is to take advantage of the convergence of the services to offer complete packages to customers.
Vesper
Vesper spent $85.4 million on its Brazilian licenses. Luiz Kaufmann, Vesper president, said the current wireless local loop company intends to begin its mobile operations within four to six months after signing the equipment contracts. Kaufmann affirmed that Vesper now will reconsider its strategy, because it lost the band E licenses in Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro during the auction. The company will consider acquisitions of companies or consolidation.
“Starting from 2003, I believe that the companies will begin to talk and to look for a solution to allow a larger use of the networks,” he commented.
Kaufmann said that Qualcomm, the main shareholder of Vesper, plans to have national coverage. Regarding technology, he explained the current fixed wireless handsets offered by Vesper could also work for mobile telephony. According to Kaufmann, Vesper will operate PCS services with CDMA technology at 1.8 GHz, the country’s only PCS carrier planning a CDMA network.
Telecom Americas
The purchase of licenses by the Telecom Americas group indicates a significant expansion of its activities in Brazil. Controlled by America Movil, of Mexico’s Telmex, the company is already present in the states of Rio de Janeiro and Espirito Santo (ATL), the center-west (Americel), Sao Paulo (Tess) and Rio Grande do Sul (Telet).
Telecom Americas plans to operate in all the areas where the Iberian group comprised of Portugal Telecom and Telefonica is present. But Telecom Americas will have a geographical advantage, because it has an operation in the center-west area where Portugal Telecom and Telefonica do not operate, which is the greatest obstacle for the Iberian group.
“We got what we wanted. We already have coverage in states that represent 70 percent of the Brazilian population,” said Carlos Henrique Moreira, president of Telecom Americas Brasil, after the auction.
He declined to say when PCS services would begin in the three areas where the group won new licenses, but he confirmed the company would operate GSM technology.
