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LatAm: Xiaomi taps Vivo to sell Redmi 2

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.

Wondering what’s going on in Latin America? Why don’t you follow me on Twitter? Also check out all of RCR Wireless News’ Latin American content.

ABOUT AUTHOR

Roberta Prescott
Roberta Prescott
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.