Telefónica announced that the company will invest approximately U.S.$791 million (Bs3.4 billion) in its Venezuelan unit during 2013—an increase of 47% compared to 2012. The investment will focus on the installation of 1,525 nodes, tripling the company's fiber deployment throughout the country and acquiring...
Telefónica Digital, the global digital innovation arm of Telefónica, made its first step toward delivering end-to-end services in the e-health market. The company has acquired a controlling stake in the Brazilian Axismed, a chronic care management company.
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U.K. telecom regulator Ofcom is looking to free up current spectrum bands reserved for 3G services for the deployment of “4G” services. The proposed move is in response to request from Vodafone Group and H3G asking that they be allowed to deploy “4G” services...
Two major telecom operators in Brazil announced that they have started trials using near field communication (NFC) technologies for mobile payments. TIM has partnered with Itaú, MasterCard and Gemalto for its pilot project, while Vivo has chosen Bradesco and Cielo. Itaú and Bradesco are two of...
Peru’s unit of Telefónica has accepted the requirements imposed that the Peruvian government for renewing its operating licenses. Telefónica classified the conditions and terms required by the Ministry of Transport and Communications (MTC) as harsh and said that they are unprecedented.
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Another big contract for mobile payments and analytics company Bango. The company that already has Facebook, BlackBerry App World, Windows Phone Store and Amazon as customers announced it has signed a global framework agreement with Telefónica Digital.
The partnership aims to create “an enhanced direct-to-bill...
A recent U.S.$64 million (€48 million) contract with Telefónica in Peru may be a good sign for Eventis. The Spanish company, which focuses on technology, telecommunications and infrastructure, is looking for growth in Latin America, and in early January, Eventis' Peruvian arm, Calatel, signed...
Femtocells deployments have yet to start in Brazil due to a lack of required legislation. A proposed bill that would regulate small cells aimed at extending network coverage indoors is under public consultation until Jan. 25. However, while Brazilian telecom regulatory Anatel mulls the...
The appointment of Rodrigo Rato, who is under investigation for fraud at state-rescued lender Bankia where he was chairman, to the advisory boards of Telefónica European and Latin American businesses is generating considerable controversy.
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The Argentinean unit of Spain-based carrier, Telefónica, announced that it will invest about $2.042 billion (10,000 million pesos) over the two-year period of 2013-2014. Investments will focus on developing communication services and expanding the company's data-customer base, as well as increasing broadband capacity, expanding...
United Kingdom telecommunications regulator Ofcom released the names of seven companies qualified to participate in the government’s upcoming auction of spectrum licenses designed to support LTE-based services.
Ofcom noted that bidders will include Everything Everywhere, which is a joint venture between Deutsche Telekom and...
The Brazilian unit of Telefónica, Vivo, has announced the launch of an over-the-top, on-demand video service. Called Vivo Play, it is Telefónica's latest application for access to entertainment content via the Internet, aiming to meet mobility needs.
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During a press conference for the launch of m-payment services in Brazil, Antonio Carlos Valente, Telefónica Brazil’s CEO, confirmed that the Spanish telecom giant is moving its Latin American headquarters from Madrid to São Paulo.
Although Valente did not release many details, he did say that the company...
Less than a week after Claro and Bradesco announced their m-payment platform, Telefónica and MasterCard held a press conference yesterday in São Paulo to present a similar solution with the same goal: to include Brazilians without bank accounts in the financial system, using a...
Rumors about a possible initial public offering of Spain-based Telefónica's Latin American business are back. According to reports, Telefónica is looking to float the Latin American units on the New York Stock Exchange. When contacted by RCR Wireless News, Telefónica's public relations representatives said there has been...
The Spanish telecom group Telefónica announced that it has integrated its machine-to-machine (M2M) services for smart cities into a global solution. The company said the new offering will create an open ecosystem which will enable town councils, urban service providers and entrepreneurs to integrate all...
Vivo, the Brazilian unit of the Spanish group Telefónica, announced its machine-to-machine strategy for the local market, aiming to double its accesses from 1 million to 2 million connections by the end of next year. Vivo's offers are in line with Telefónica's cloud-based global...
At the end of the second quarter, Spanish telecom giant Telefónica cancelled payment of all remaining dividends and share buybacks for this year, citing the current instability of the economy as prompting the move; now for the third quarter, the telecom operator announced that...
The digital unit of Spanish group Telefónica is expanding its cloud computing services. The company announced the launch of an infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) offering, named “Instant Servers.” The new service aims to deliver on-demand, high performance cloud computing for developers, digital businesses and large enterprises....
The Spanish group Telefónica is looking to add video chatting to its services. Through its unit Telefónica Digital, the company acquired U.S.-based TokBox with the goal of driving innovation in its core communications business with capabilities that now extend beyond voice and messaging to...
As the second largest telecommunications market in Latin America, Mexico commands great interest from foreign companies. Nevertheless, over the last decade most of the attention has originated
Although Brazilian telecom companies signed a commitment statement to enhance infrastructure sharing when deploying LTE networks, this subject is still hotly debated when it comes to 2G and 3G networks. Telefónica’s Brazil mobile unit Vivo appears to have taken the lead on the issue,...
RIO DE JANEIRO—Panelists who debated m-health in Brazil agreed that the lack of connectivity is the greatest challenge to developing the market. Security, culture and legislation were also pointed out as challenges by executives from information technology and medical equipment vendors, hospitals, carriers and...
Spain’s Telefónica has agreed to sell its call-center business Atento to Bain Capital for about U.S.$ 1.34 billion (€ 1.039 billion). Industry observers say the company wants to raise cash through asset sales because it is struggling under a heavy debt load. The deal...
