Brazil Cancels Auction
Story Filed: Thursday, May 31, 2001 5:11 PM EDT
SAO PAULO, Brazil (AP) -- Finding no bidders willing to pay $560 million each for a pair of wireless licenses, Brazil's telecommunications regulators have canceled a planned wireless auction for the second time this year.
Anatel said it had received no bids for the pair of GSM licenses and decided to call of the auction scheduled for June 5.
Anatel, which regulates the country's telecommunications industry, said it will reevaluate the licenses and decide to put them up for sale again.
Brazil's biggest phone company -- Tele Norte Leste Participacoes SA, or Telemar, had been the only expected bidder.
But Telemar, which bought a wireless license in February for the nation's northeast region, is cutting back an ambitious spending program and didn't bid on the new licenses, which cover Brazil's center and southern regions.
So far the government has sold only four of nine new GSM licenses, bringing in $1.5 billion. Three of those licenses went to Telecom Italia Mobile.
The new licenses, which Anatel valued at nearly 7 billion reals ($3 billion) were expected to bring in a large chunk of Brazil's 2001 foreign direct investment.
Copyright 2001 Associated Press Information Services, all rights reserved.
library.northernlight.com |
