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Technology Stocks : Qualcomm Moderated Thread - please read rules before posting -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: foundation who wrote (6835)	2/2/2001 7:46:41 AM
From: foundation	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 196531

Brazil's 1st Mobile-Phone Auction Receives a Lukewarm Response By TERRY WADE and DIANA ROCHFORD Dow Jones Newswires February 2, 2001 SAO PAULO, Brazil -- Brazil's much-anticipated sale of nine mobile-phone-network operating licenses is quickly losing its luster. Only one bidder, the Serramby Participacoes group, put in a bid for the first auction that is slated for Tuesday. Seven other groups, including Serramby, presented bids for the second and third auctions. People close to Serramby said the group of bidders includes shareholders of fixed-line carrier Brasil Telecom Participacoes, excluding shareholder Telecom Italia SpA. Auction rules set by Anatel, the national telecommunications regulator, prohibit fixed-line firms from competing in the first round of the auctions, and Anatel has said it may consider calling off the first-round auction if it determines Serramby is ineligible to bid. The lack of bidder interest confirms growing expectations that market leaders will opt to carry out mergers and acquisitions to obtain nationwide coverage in Latin America's largest economy. The disappointingly low number of registered bidders is deceiving, as Telecom Italia Mobile SpA is in three of the seven consortiums and two local fixed-line operators also appear to be in multiple groups. In the last week alone, five bidders have dropped out of the race. After the first round scheduled for Tuesday, the second and third rounds of the auctions are set for Feb. 20 and Mar. 13. In each round, one license will be sold for each of Brazil's three regions. Several Big Names Out Of The Running Portugal Telecom SA and Telefonica SA last week opted to form a $10 billion wireless joint venture instead of competing in the auctions and have said that they don't think the auctions would make strategic sense for their businesses. Incumbent mobile-phone operator Tele Centro Oeste Celular Participacoes SA said Thursday it wouldn't bid as a result of the changed competitive environment, as the Iberian firms' joint venture locks up 43% of Brazil's roughly 22 million mobile phone users. Incumbent long-distance carrier Embratel Participacoes SA also chose not to bid, as did British giant Vodafone Group PLC, Anatel said. Many telecom players have openly doubted the technological lure of the new licenses, which will operate on a global system for mobile, or GSM, technology at 1,900 megahertz. Brazil's existing systems run on code division multiple access or time division multiple access technology at 800 megahertz. Anatel says the GSM system will offer operators the ability to provide more types of data-intensive services, like e-mail and stock trading, for customers wanting to access the wireless Web. But Telesp Celular, a unit of Portugal Telecom, said Thursday it thinks GSM isn't very attractive, and that with a bit of extra software it can come up with a way to push enough data over its network to offer such services. The companies that do plan to bid in Brazil's auction include TNL PCS SA -- which people familiar with the situation say is led by fixed-line giant Tele Norte Leste Participacoes SA, or Telemar. Telemar is expected to try to bid for a license in its operating area in Brazil's vast northern and eastern regions, which includes 16 of the country's 27 states. Telecom Italia Mobile created three bidding consortiums -- Blucel SA, Starcel SA and Unicel SA. A lawyer representing TIM said that the Italian wireless company will only bid in the second and third rounds of the auctions. The Italian group owns three existing wireless companies here. TIM is expected to be a major consolidator in Brazil's wireless sector, along with the Telefonica/Portugal Telecom joint venture and Telecom Americas Ltd., the holding company formed by Bell Canada International Inc., SBC Communications Inc. and Telefonos de Mexico SA. Telecom Americas has interests in a handful of Brazil's mobile companies. Consorcio Brasmar is expected to be the vehicle that Telemar and Brasil Telecom will use to jointly bid for a license in Sao Paulo state, where the companies have said they want to have a presence. Also, Brasil Telecom SA, the operating unit of Brasil Telecom Participacoes SA has registered to bid alone. Brasil Telecom has said it will bid for a mobile license in its operating area in the country's center-south region, which includes about 23% of the nation's 170 million people. ragingbull.lycos.com