BROWSING: Brazil

America Movil’s Brazilian mobile unit, Claro, announced a strategy focused on including zero-rating access to Facebook, Twitter and WhatsApp in its prepaid and postpaid packages. The announcement was made less than two months after Claro’s president, Carlos Zenteno, said that zero-rating plans were no longer...

The Brazilian telco market had total revenue of $77.24 billion in 2014, an equivalent of 4.2% of the country's GDP. All together, telco operators invested $9.57 billion last year; if the acquisition of spectrum licenses is concluded, the total rises to $11.42 billion. The country ended 2014...

Smartphone sales soar in Brazil Brazil's smartphone market is growing rapidly, which could also push demand for data services. Last year, smartphones sales were up 55% compared to 2013, totaling 54.5 million units, according to a survey conducted by IDC. When adding feature phones to the count, 70.3...

The Brazilian unit of Telecom Italia, TIM, closed a deal with WhatsApp. Under the agreement, TIM Brasil customers who have the post-paid “controle” plan can use WhatsApp without paying for the data consumption used by the over-the-top service. The package costs $10.77 and includes 300 MB of data,...

Argentina's new telecommunications and information services bill has passed the lower house of congress. The digital bill – which defines new information technology as a public service, broadening the concept of Internet access – drew strong criticism from opposing members, who claim it favors monopolies. The measure passed the upper...

After announcing plans to acquire Mexico's No. 3 mobile operator Iusacell, AT&T looks to be eyeing Nextel Mexico. Speaking at a recent investor conference in New York, AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson said the company doesn’t need América Móvil’s assets in Mexico to put its...

SÃO PAULO — This year's Futurecom trade show was bigger than last year's event with a total of 350 brands in attendance and an expected 15,000 attendees. Two major topics headlined this year Futurecom event: What will happen to Brazilian mobile operator Oi (check...

SÃO PAULO — Speaking at this week’s Futurecom event, TIM Brasil CEO Rodrigo Abreu said that the move from voice to data is changing the role of carriers and their future relies on understanding that providing connectivity is only the tip of the iceberg. “We must understand how...

SÃO PAULO — While waiting for regulatory approvals of its acquisition of GVT, Telefónica Vivo has not yet disclosed any details about how it will combine brands or make changes following the buyout. However, at this week’s Futurecom event, Antonio Carlos Valente, president of Telefónica Vivo, made it clear that...

SAO PAULO – While Brazilian carrier Oi's future is uncertain, its new CEO, Bayard Gontijo, supports the consolidation of the telecom market in Brazil. Rival operators TIM and Oi have each looked into buying the other, and Oi faces cash problems related to its merger with...

SAO PAULO – No matter who becomes Brazil’s next president after the Oct. 26 runoff election, the agenda to universalize Internet broadband must move forward, according to Paulo Bernardo, Brazil's minister of communications. Bernardo used his speech before a full audience at the opening session of Futurecom in...

Mexico's telecommunications regulator, IFT, has imposed a $3.69 million fine on fixed-line operator Telmex for monopolistic practices in long-distance services. IFT said Telmex committed a serious infraction by ignoring competitor Axtel's requests to interconnect with its network. The carrier also did not provide information about...

As opposed to the country's 2.5 GHz spectrum auction, Brazil’s 700 MHz auction had almost no premium over the set minimum prices and the government raised much less than it expected. Also, the proceedings resulted in no new entrants into the country's hotly contested...

A flurry of potential acquisitions in Brazil has resulted in two competing operators, Oi and TIM Brasil, each considering bids to buy the other. First, there is the ongoing battle for Vivendi's Brazilian unit, GVT. Telefónica raised its offer for GVT to U.S.$9.83 billion in cash...

América Móvil, which owns Claro, NET and Embratel in Brazil, confirmed its interest in making a common offer with the carrier Oi to acquire the operator TIM Brasil. Oi has already released a material fact announcing that it has engaged Banco BTG Pactual to review alternative options to acquire...

Brazil’s government has approved a tax break program that exempts companies from several federal taxes related to investment in telecommunications networks. A total of 1,400 projects are expected to fall under the tax relief program, totaling almost U.S.$2.67 billion (R$6 billion) in tax exemptions. The...

UPDATED: The future of Brazil's telecom market has become complicated by several potential, competing acquisition offers. Nearly everyone expects some kind of market consolidation, but how it will happen is not yet clear. Over the past few weeks, French company Vivendi has fielded dueling bids from Spain's Telefónica...

NII Holdings has remained in the headlines in Latin America ever since it announced a likely bankruptcy last week. On August 15, the company, which operates under the Nextel brand in Latin America, said it has elected not to pay approximately $118.8 million in interest due on senior notes. A...

The greater the number of competitors, the better for the user, said Brazil's minister of communications, Paulo Bernardo, to members of the press this week. Those comments came on the heels of Telefónica's bid to buy Vivendi's Brazilian unit GVT. Telefónica hopes to combine its Vivo operations, which...

América Móvil is suffering the consequences of new Mexican anti-trust rules that forbid telecom companies from controlling more than 50% of the market. The Financial Times noted that América Móvil is feeling the pain of the new regulations as its second-quarter earnings showed a 9% year-over-year drop in mobile...

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...

Welcome to this week’s edition of cell tower industry news, created by Jarad Matula and brought to you by Towercrews.net. AT&T infrastructure investment slows, contractor layoffs It's been a rough week for some tower crews working primarily on AT&T towers this week. RCR's own Martha DeGrasse reported...

Before the FIFA World Cup began, Brazilian telecom union SindiTelebrasil said that the operators' networks were ready to handle the increased data and voice traffic, and during the first week of the tournament the wireless performance was closely watched. During the first games in each of the 12 arenas that...

The FIFA World Cup begins today in Brazil, starting with a match between the host country and Croatia in São Paulo at the Arena Corinthians. Around 600,000 foreign tourists are expected to arrive in Brazil for the World Cup, and according to the telecom...