The U.S. espionage scandal has touched Brazil. Citing documents leaked by Edward Snowden, Brazilian newspaper O Globo reported that the United States maintained a satellite spy base in Brazil, the only one in Latin America, until at least 2002. The article, which was published on July 8, was co-written by Guardian journalist Glenn Greenwald, who first reported the NSA domestic espionage after receiving documents from Snowden, a former NSA contractor.
The revelation has shaken the Brazilian telecommunications industry. Telecom operators, through their association SindiTelebrasil, have denied participating in the mass espionage practices leaked by Snowden. Other companies, such as Google, Apple, Yahoo and Level 3, have also denied collaborating with the U.S. in the Brazilian espionage.
Meanwhile, Brazil’s government has started to take action, releasing a repudiation motion against the U.S. government over the issue. The senate said it will invite the country managers of Internet giants Facebook and Google to provide clarification, and the federal government is considering using Telebras to transmit secure government data.
TIM and Claro expand LTE in Brazil: Five months before regulator Anatel’s December 31 deadline, TIM launched its LTE service in 79 districts in the state capital of São Paulo. In a statement, the carrier said that it will continue to invest in LTE coverage expansion in São Paulo.
Claro Brazil has also expanded its LTE services. Currently, LTE network coverage is available in 17 Brazilian cities: São Paulo, Campinas, Rio de Janeiro, Brasília, Salvador, Curitiba, Fortaleza, Porto Alegre, Belo Horizonte, Recife, Campos do Jordao, Búzios, Paraty, Cuiabá, Manaus, Natal and Belém.
Oi selling underwater fiber optic and towers: Grupo Oi SA, the owner of Brazil’s fourth-largest wireless carrier, agreed to sell its underwater fiber optic cable units to a fund led by investment banking firm Grupo BTG Pactual SA for U.S.$ 772 million (R$ 1.75 billion). In addition, SBA Communications Corporation has entered into a definitive agreement with Brazilian carrier Oi to have exclusive use rights for 2,113 towers. The consideration to be paid by SBA will be approximately R$ 686.7 million (or approximately U.S. $302.6 million at current exchange rates). Upon closing of the transaction, Oi will enter into a long-term lease with SBA.
Public Wi-Fi: ETB (Empresa de Telecomunicaciones de Bogota), a Colombian state-owned telecommunications company, and Motorola Solutions have joined together to install various broadband Internet access points across the Colombian capital of Bogota. The access points will be available for free in parks, squares and pedestrian corridors initially located at the center of the city.
More News from Latin America:
- As part of a cooperation agreement, the governments of Chile and Argentina are working together to reduce current rates paid by mobile users roaming between the two countries. The countries aim to further advance bilateral measures to decrease use and access costs for mobile Internet and services in the short-term.
- Peru’s private investment promotion agency, ProInversion, has fixed the base price at U.S.$63.3 million for each one of the spectrum blocks in the 1.7 GHz-2.1GHz band (also known as AWS) which are expected to be auctioned later this month. Claro, Movistar, Viettel and Entel (Americatel) have shown interested in bidding.
- Chilean watchdog Subtel announced that it will maintain the suspension of 55 carriers from selling products over the telephone because they haven’t presented a sales model in compliance with Subtel rules.
- Mexico’s Federal Commission of Telecommunications (Cofetel) postponed the analog switch off date for the cities of Monterrey, Ciudad Juárez, Nuevo Laredo, Reynosa, Matamoros and Mexicali. The measure was taken due to the lack of financial resources to get the process started.
- At the request of a cellphone manufacturer, the semiconductor company MediaTek has developed a smartphone model that can carry three SIM cards. A MediaTek spokesman told a local paper that the phone is expected to be launched soon and will use the Android operating system.
- Brazilian telecommunications company Oi has cancelled its plans to issue debentures, since capital market conditions have deteriorated dramatically in recent weeks.
- Brazilian Embratel, which is owned by América Móvil, and PromonLogicalis announced that they’ve partnered to offer a full HD telepresence as a service focused on the enterprise market.
- Alcatel One Touch, which is owned by the Chinese group TCL, announced that it will start manufacturing tablets and smartphones in Brazil. The production will be performed in Manaus by a manufacturing company specializing in custom electronics. Neither the name of the supplier nor the amount of the production investment was revealed.
- The broadband company Mushroom Networks entered a partnership with MCS, an information technology consulting and professional services company, to offer Mushroom Networks’ patented solutions to clients in the Caribbean.
- Celistic announced that its contract with Brazilian carrier Vivo was renewed to provide logistics solutions. The new agreement, estimated at U.S.$135 million, will last until 2017.
Be sure not to miss what’s happening in Latin America’s wireless markets. Check out RCR Wireless News wrap ups.
