The Brazilian government still plans to license three wireline and one long-distance telephone service license by Jan. 15, despite the resignation of Communications Minister Luis Carlos Mendonca de Barros over a scandal involving the sale of state-owned Telebras.
Several leading Brazilian magazines published transcripts of illegally taped conversations by Barros and Andre Lara Resende, president of Brazil’s National Development Bank, say published reports. Barros and Resende appeared to be trying to influence the sale in favor of a consortium that included former Central Bank head Persio Arida and former privatization director Elena Landau. Reports say the effort was unsuccessful. Barros denied any wrongdoing.
The Brazilian government received nearly $19 billion from a sealed-bid auction in July that split Telebras into eight cellular properties, three local landline properties and a long-distance company.
The Brazilian government is allowing the new licensees to use wireless local loop technology, and because of the high coverage requirements, most proposals are expected to rely heavily on WLL technology, analysts say. Auction rules require companies to serve all cities with more than 200,000 inhabitants by Dec. 31, 2001. The government has allocated some personal communications services spectrum for WLL service.
“There is a lot of discussion right now and jockeying around to form ventures for the mirror licenses,” said Glenn James, regional director for Latin America with Deloitte & Touche Consulting Group in Atlanta. “All of the major out-of-town players are interested and are looking for Brazilian partners.”
