Brazil Embratel applies for local telecom license
Reuters, 06/06/2001 18:36
BRASILIA, Brazil, June 6 (Reuters) - Brazilian long-distance operator Embratel (SAO:EBTP4), a unit of U.S. telecommunications firm WorldCom Inc. (NASDAQ:WCOM), said on Wednesday it had applied for a license to provide fixed-local telephone services.
Embratel, the bigger of Brazil's two long-distance providers, said it hoped to begin offering services by January 2002, when the local service market is opened to further competition, and snatch 5 percent of the corporate sector by the end of that year.
"We don't intend to offer services before that date but we do intend to prepare to offer it and meet our goals early," said Purificacion Carpinteyro, who is heading the Rio de Janeiro-based company's local service project.
Embratel submitted the application before the National Telecommunications Agency (Anatel) regulatory body, which will open the local service market to companies that have met certain operating targets early, by December 2001, instead of the official deadline in 2003.
Embratel said it was close to meeting its goal of installing public telephones in at least 1,250 towns with populations of under 300 people.
So far, Embratel has installed phones in 700 towns and expects to meet its goal by August, Carpinteyro said.
If approved, Embratel's local service should come up against powerful players like Spain's Telefonica (MADRID:TEF)(SAO:TLPP4), which operates local services in in Sao Paulo, the country's industrial hub.
Carpinteyro added that the company hoped to snatch 5 percent of the corporate market by the end of 2002 and that it planned to invest 300 million reais ($125 million) this year on its local network.
Copyright 2001, Reuters News Service |
