Telecom Italia’s Brazilian unit, TIM, announced that it will invest U.S.$5.41 billion from 2013 to 2015, focusing on increasing its customer base, expanding 3G coverage and improving service quality.
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The company recently announced a new CEO and released its fourth quarter and full year results for 2012, posting an increase of its organic 2012 net income of 17.4% year over year, supported by the 16.3% growth in the fourth quarter.
The approved plan focuses on four main areas of growth: growing the company’s customer base to more than 90 million; expanding the MoU (minutes of use) to more than 200 minutes; ensuring a VAS (value added service) revenue greater than 26%; and preparing to sell its fixed broadband product to 2 million homes.
In a statement, the carrier said that it will focus on improving quality and expanding its network. The plan provides goals to meet telecom regulator, Anatel’s quality indicators and requirements, regarding call completion, dropped calls and data connection rates. It also aims to expand 3G coverage to 80% of the urban population by 2015 and extend the fiber optic network to 53,000 kilometers by the end of 2014.
Wi-Fi
TIM also announced that it has deployed Wi-Fi hotspot networks at major airports in the six host cities of the 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup. According to the telecom operator, two types of Wi-Fi networks were deployed: one is provided by Infraero, the company responsible for administering the airport networks, and the service is available to all passengers; the other which is intended for 3G offloading, is TIM-owned and available to TIM customers.
At the end of 2012, the operator had wireless networks in 15 airports. In 2013, TIM expects to install networks at seven other airports (Maceio, Aracaju, Uberlândia, Goiânia, Campo de Marte, Montes Claros and Jacarepaguá) and in areas with large population concentrations and 3G traffic, such as universities, shopping malls, hotels and roads as well as impoverished communities.
