Brazil's Telesp Celular Sees Over 3M Subscribers By End '99
Dow Jones Newswires
NEW YORK -- Cellular telecommunications company Telesp Celular Participacoes SA (TCP),
which listed Monday on the New York Stock Exchange, projects to double its customer base by the
end of 1999 to more than 3 million subscribers, an executive told Dow Jones Newswires on
Monday.
"We now have 1.6 million subscribers," said Jose Roque de Pinho, president of Telesp Celular
Participacoes. "We expect to double that by the end of 1999."
De Pinho declined to estimate the investment needed to reach its subscriber goals.
In the company's earnings statement released Thursday, Telesp said that during the first nine months
ended Sept. 30, it spent 572 million reals (BRR) ($1=BRR1.19) and that it expects the capital
expenditure figure to reach BRR900 million by year end.
De Pinho, who spoke after a news conference held for the initial trading of the 12 Telebras spinoff
American depositary receipts on the New York Stock Exchange, said that Monday is a big day for
the company.
"Not only are we listing here (at NYSE), but also we're launching our digital CDMA (Code Division
Multiple Access) network," he said.
Telesp Celular has contracted with manufacturers Motorola Inc. (MOT), Lucent Technologies (LU)
and NEC Corp. (NIPNY) to provide equipment for its network expansion, de Pinho said.
At 1935 GMT, the company's ADRs were trading at $21 5/8, up 2/8 from their initial price.
TCP said that for the nine months ended Sept. 30, its net profit was BRR258 million.
TCP is the holding that controls Telesp Celular SA (E.TCL), which serves the rich and populous
state of Sao Paulo, and was recently privatized as a spinoff of Telecomunicacoes Brasileiras SA
(TBR, TBH). TCP is controlled by Portugal Telecom (PT).
-By Margarita Palatnik; 201-938-2226; margarita.palatnik@cor.dowjones.com |
