News from Latin America: Product Launches, Spectrum Allocation, Communication Ministry Leadership Change
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Telefonica, Portugal Telecom Aim for National Coverage
Telefonica and Portugal Telecom (PT), which controls Telesp Celular, have declared their intention of bidding for the Bands D and E of personal communications service (PCS) spectrum remaining after previous auctions. The two carriers are starting a joint venture in wireless service provision and seek to guarantee coverage of all-important areas nationwide. Telefonica intends to bid for Area 4 (Minas Gerais, including Belo Horizonte) and Area 7 (Center-West, including Brasília). PT intends to bid for Area 10, comprising six northeastern states from Alagoas to Piauí. That leaves only Area 8 (Amazon) uncovered, which is not densely populated and already has four wireless players. Bids will be delivered to ANATEL, Brazil's telecom regulator, on March 5.
In addition to bidding for these PCS spectrum bands, Telefonica and PT plan to acquire additional frequencies in the 1800 MHz band for a GSM overlay on top of existing networks. Telesp Celular, PT's wireless arm, operates in Paraná, Santa Catarina and São Paulo, while Telefonica Celular currently covers Rio Grande do Sul, Rio de Janeiro, Bahia and Sergipe. Both companies will use GSM to facilitate roaming in voice and data services throughout the area they plan to cover together. However, ANATEL will grant additional frequencies to these companies for roaming purposes only if they migrate conventional cellular operations to PCS.
GSM equipment vendors have been anticipating this move and are expecting major gains from this development. They believe migration to GSM will guarantee investment in equipment to upgrade networks that currently have approximately 10.5 million users in major markets nationwide. |
