QCOM--(BI.) Bell Canada International Forms New Brazilian Internet Venture With Existing Partners
BUSINESS WIRE - March 21, 2000 16:07
MONTREAL, Mar 21, 2000 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Bell Canada International Inc. (BCI) (Nasdaq:BCICF)(TSE:BI.) today announced that it has taken a 45% interest in a new Brazilian company, BV Interativa Ltda. (BV Interativa), which has been formed to pursue Internet access and Web-based services opportunities in the fast growing Brazilian digital economy.
BCI's partners in BV Interativa are VeloCom Inc. and QUALCOMM Inc. of the United States - the existing partners of BCI in two Brazilian competitive access companies which are providing services under the brand name "Vesper" in Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and over forty other Brazilian cities, with an initial fixed wireless network capacity of 2.7 million lines.
In announcing the formation of BV Interativa, Mr. Louis Tanguay, BCI's President and Chief Operating Officer and Chairman of the Vesper companies, stated, "BCI and our BV Interativa partners intend to explore and develop a variety of promising opportunities in the Brazilian Internet market - from dial-up and high speed Internet access services to e-commerce and Web hosting. In building the company, BCI will be seeking to lever the growing Web expertise of our sister companies in the BCE Group and to complement the high speed Internet access service of our Brazilian-based broadband cable operations."
Bell Canada International is in the business of building and developing world-class communications companies in markets outside Canada, with a focus on Latin America and the Asia-Pacific region. A subsidiary of BCE Inc., Canada's largest communications company, BCI is listed on the Toronto stock exchange under the symbol BI, and on the Nasdaq national market under the symbol BCICF. |
