Spanish telecom giant Telefónica denied a report that it is preparing a joint offer to take over Telecom Italia’s Brazilian unit, TIM.
The Italian newspaper Il Sole 24 Ore published an article last week stating that Telefónica was working on a joint offer to buy TIM Brasil. According to the report, Telefónica was looking to set up a vehicle with Brazilian market rivals América Movil and Oi to take over TIM, with the report stating the partners would then look to break up TIM.
Brazil’s antitrust regulator has told Telefónica to either sell its interest in TIM Brasil or seek a new partner for its market-leading Vivo mobile business.
Telecom Italia released a statement saying it was unaware of any bid for TIM Brasil and noted that its Brazilian operation remains strategic for the group.
LTE: Movistar Peru launched LTE services across several districts of Lima, the country’s capital. Last year, Telefónica’s local unit, Movistar, paid $152.2 million for spectrum in the 1.7/2.1 GHz (advanced wireless services) band. Under terms of the deal, Movistar has to deploy LTE and offer services in 234 locations including district capitals and select towns.
Also in Peru, a local news sites reported that Americatel is preparing to launch LTE services in the first quarter of 2014. Americatel won a bid for AWS spectrum last year and will focus its LTE offerings on fixed services for small and medium firms.
Latin American mobile apps: The mobile content platform Movile announced a new app marketplace aimed at bringing together original equipment manufacturers, carriers and app developers. According to the company, the marketplace lets OEMs and carriers choose to pre-load apps that developers have uploaded at a single central site. Movile claims its marketplace would solve common problems developers experience when trying to expand into Latin America since it connects developers directly with OEMs and carriers.
More news from the Latin American region:
- Venezuela’s mobile sales fell by 40%. The country’s financial situation is cited as the main factor that led to the drop.
- Mobile handset data revenue will be driven by volume in emerging markets and value in developed countries, according to Analysys Mason. This sector is expected to lead growth in telecom retail revenue worldwide, which will reach $1.64 trillion in 2018, up from $1.50 trillion in 2012.
- Brazilian triple-play cable operator NET plans to invest about $4.43 billion between 2014 and 2015 with the main focus of expanding its business.
- Alcatel-Lucent has been selected by telecom operator Lazus to deploy “metro” networks in nine cities across Colombia.
