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LatAm: World Cup network use broke records; Oi/PT merger hit by funding problems

by Roberta Prescott
written by Roberta Prescott Share
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Now that the FIFA World Cup has ended, carriers and observers are evaluating how the mobile networks performed during the tournament. While the National Union of Fixed and Mobile Telecom Companies of Brazil (SindiTelebrasil) claimed that 2G, 3G and LTE coverage performed beyond expectations and that it received a low volume of complaints, some sports fans who went to the stadiums (including this reporter) found that data access could have been better. SindiTelebrasil said that over the course of the 64 matches, 4.5 million phone calls were made and 48.5 million photos were sent, and that a total of 26.7 terrabytes of data were transmitted — because of this high use, some are calling it the “World Cup of selfies.”
Twitter and Facebook said the World Cup broke Super Bowl records. Twitter claimed that 672 million tweets sent related to the 2014 #WorldCup, however it added that “while this is the highest number we’ve announced related to an event, it’s hard to compare the 32-day, 64-match World Cup to, for example, the single-game Super Bowl, the one-night Oscars or the 16-day Olympics.”
“The fact that Facebook and Twitter have announced they broke records means that telecom infrastructure worked fine, not only in the arenas,” Eduardo Levy, executive director of SindiTelebrasil, said. In addition to the 4,738 antennas built in the 12 stadiums, Levy said that the Wi-Fi infrastructure built in six stadiums helped to offload traffic, providing better service for those attending the matches.
In total, carriers invested $101.6 million to build the wireless infrastructure in the 12 arenas. Levy doesn’t believe that telecom operators will see a return on this investment, at least in the short term.
An individual on-site test
At the match between Argentina and Switzerland at Arena de São Paulo, an RCR Wireless News reporter tested Oi and Vivo 3G networks and was unable to access data services, including Facebook, Twitter and WhatsApp. Another attendee who had an LTE plan was also able to access services. In Brazil, there are about 2.5 million LTE customers, with W-CDMA 3G technology used by just over 41% of subscribers and 2G GSM connections accounting for more than 51%.
In the middle of the World Cup, Wells Fargo Securities senior analyst Jennifer Fritzsche, said that cellular coverage at the 2014 World Cup was “somewhat inefficient.” In her words, “the opening game coverage went smoothly, though officials fear as the games drive on, the increase in data usage may be too much for the networks to handle.”
The 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil had the third-highest aggregate attendance in the competition’s 84-year history, with a total of nearly 3.2 million spectators flocking to the country, causing unprecedented capacity and coverage demands on Brazilian mobile networks. Radio Frequency Systems shared the following infographic to illustrate the demands at the four stadiums where RFS supplied a distributed antenna system solution built specifically for the World Cup:
DAS_WC
Check out more announcements related to the World Cup:

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PT forced to cut share in Oi merger: The market is closely watching the consequences of a default by the Espírito Santo family’s holding company, which failed to repay more than $1 billion it owed to Portugal Telecom. As a result, PT has been forced to take a cut in its share of a merger with Brazil’s Grupo Oi.
PT disclosed late last month that it is holding $1.22 billion in commercial paper from Rioforte, a unit of Espírito Santo International. Banco Espírito Santo, which is 20% owned by a unit of Espírito Santo International, owns 10% of PT shares, according to The Wall Street Journal.
On July 16, Oi announced a memorandum of understanding with PT in relation to financial investments in Rioforte. PT and Oi subsidiaries are set to conduct an exchange through which PT SGPS will deliver to Oi approximately 474.3 million Oi common shares and about 948.7 million Oi preferred shares, representing 16.6% of the voting capital and 16.6% of Oi’s total capital. Oi, in return, will deliver the securities to PT SGPS, for 100% of its face value, without additional payments.
Telefónica to leave Telecom Italia: The Spanish group Telefónica is reportedly in talks to sell its stake in Telecom Italia in a move that could ease regulatory pressure in Brazil’s wireless market. Last December, Brazil’s antitrust regulator issued a negative assessment of Telefónica’s move to bolster its stake in the Telco holding company that owns about 22% of Telecom Italia, which in turn controls the Brazilian carrier TIM. By increasing its stake, Telefónica would have effectively taken control of the heavily indebted Italian firm. The message from Brazilian regulators was clear: either Telefónica had to sell its position in Telecom Italia or find a new partner for its Brazilian carrier Vivo.
More news from the Latin American region:

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Editor, [email protected] Roberta Prescott is responsible for Latin America reporting news and analysis, interviewing key stakeholders. Roberta has worked as an IT and telecommunication journalist since March 2005, when she started as a reporter with InformationWeek Brasil magazine and its website IT Web. In July 2006, Prescott was promoted to be the editor-in-chief, and, beyond the magazine and website, was in charge for all ICT products, such as IT events and CIO awards. In mid-2010, she was promoted to the position of executive editor, with responsibility for all the editorial products and content of IT Mídia. Prescott has worked as a journalist since 1998 and has three journalism prizes. In 2009, she won, along with InformationWeek Brasil team, the press prize 11th Prêmio Imprensa Embratel. In 2008, she won the 7th Unisys Journalism Prize and in 2006 was the editor-in-chief when InformationWeek Brasil won the 20th media award Prêmio Veículos de Comunicação. She graduated in Journalism by the Pontifícia Universidade Católica de Campinas, has done specialization in journalism at the Universidad de Navarra (Spain, 2003) and Master in Journalism at IICS – Universidad de Navarra (Brazil, 2010) and MBA – Executive Education at the Getulio Vargas Foundation.

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