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07:52 AM ET 03/10/98
BellSouth faces huge Brazil phone demand
SAO PAULO, March 10 (Reuters) - A group including U.S.-based
BellSouth Corp got its first taste of the massive demand
for telephones in Brazil, receiving 1.6 million applications for
its first raffle of cellular lines in Sao Paulo, officials said.
"The participation shows the great interest of Sao Paulo
residents in getting cellular phones," a spokeswoman for the
consortium, BCP Telecomunicacoes SA, said.
BCP, which holds the B Band frequency licence to provide a
cellular phone service in the city of Sao Paulo, plans to begin
operating its first lot of 150,000 digital cellular telephones
in late April. By August, it hopes to have installed 500,000
cellular lines.
The group's start-up will provide the first serious
challenge to federal Telebras' system from new
private operators in Brazil, where the telecoms sector is in the
process of being privatized.
Brazil, with a population of 160 million, is widely viewed
as one of the world's premier emerging telecommunications
markets. The main reason is its growth potential as measured by
huge pent-up demand.
With just 10 lines per 100 inhabitants, the country has one
of the lowest phone penetration rates in the region. By
contrast, the United States has nearly 70 lines per 100 people.
Sao Paulo, which accounts for a third of Brazil's gross
domestic product, is its richest and most-populous state.
Telesp Celular SA, the Telebras subsidiary offering A Band
cellular services in Sao Paulo, operates more than 1.1 million
analog lines but has a waiting list for more than 2.5 million
potential customers.
Telesp , which is to be privatized by July with
the rest of Telebras, plans to add 150,000 analog lines by
mid-year and is taking bids for installation of 1.0 million
digital lines by the end of 1999.
But BCP promises to provide tough competition. Applications
for its first batch of phones, distributed in newspapers and
magazines and at newstands, were received between February 15
and February 28, officials said.
BCP, which also includes as partners the local groups Safra,
RBS and O Estado de S.Paulo and telecom equipment supplier
Splice, expects its network to expand quickly beyond its first
half-million lines after August, officials said.
((James Craig, Sao Paulo newsroom 5511 2485413;
james.craig@reuters.com)) |
