Xiaomi changes device sales strategy
Less than three months after launching in Brazil, Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi tapped carrier Vivo to sell its Redmi 2 device. The move represents a change in Xiaomi’s strategy; initially the manufacturer said it would only sell its smartphones direct through its website. Vivo is the only telecom operator authorized to sell the Redmi 2.
According to Xiaomi Global VP Hugo Barra, the partnership was created to meet consumer demand. In a statement, Barra said in addition to the purchases through the Mi.com site, the company has decided to take the shopping experience to retail markets. Currently, Vivo is the largest wireless carrier in Brazil.
Last July, Xiaomi announced Brazil as the first market outside Asia where it would conduct operations and manufacturing locally, with the logistics handled by Foxconn.
Tower
TIM announced the conclusion of the second phase of tower sales to American Tower. As of Sept. 30, TIM moved 1,125 towers with a price tag of 517 million reals ($130 million) to American Tower. The telco said financial proceeds from the transaction would help sustain its investment strategy.
The first transaction was in April when TIM transferred 4,176 towers to American Tower for approximately 1.9 billion reals. According to the terms of the purchase and sale agreement, a total of 6,481 telecommunication towers will be sold. The third and final transaction is expected to take place within the next few months, when the 1,180 remaining towers will be transferred to the U.S.-based company.
More news from Latin America
Region – Telefónica and China Unicom have agreed to share their international data center capabilities globally, with the goal of broader and larger scale cloud cooperation. According to the companies, the agreement will initially focus on three major data centers from each operator, including Telefónica’s data center located in Sao Paulo.
Peru – Facebook’s Free Basics (formerly Internet.org) reached an agreement with telecom operator Entel to launch the platform in Peru.
Brazil – Total mobile connections are estimated to grow to 304 million lines in Brazil by 2018, according to research firm Dataxis in its report “Telecom Series 2015: Brazil.”
Colombia – The nation’s ICT Ministry signed a memorandum of understanding with Microsoft to develop the information technology and communications sector.
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