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Strategies & Market Trends : Telebras (TBH) & Brazil -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Steve Fancy who wrote (1185)	3/12/1998 12:04:00 AM
From: ALBERTO	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 22640

You missed this one. 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))

To: Steve Fancy who wrote (1185)	3/12/1998 2:02:00 PM
From: Steve Fancy	Respond to of 22640

PRESS DIGEST - Brazil - March 12 SAO PAULO, March 12 (Reuters) - These are the highlights of the main Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro newspapers this morning. GAZETA MERCANTIL -- NEW BRANDS SOUGHT TO DEFEND MARKET SHARE Brazil's large retail companies are seeking to develop new brands to create an alternative line of cheaper products to bolster market share and fend off growing competition. ***************************************************************** -- INVESTORS ALREADY CRITICAL OF TELECOM CONCESSION RULES The price expected to be paid later this year for federal holding Telebras could fall if the government maintains rules calling for concession contracts to be renewed in 2005. ****************************************************************** -- UNIBANCO, WORLD BANK'S IFC TO RAISE $300 MLN OVERSEAS Private Brazilian bank Unibanco and the World Bank's International Finance Corp (IFC) plan to issue $300 million in securities on global markets. The issue is contingent on IFC board approval. - - - FOLHA DE SAO PAULO -- SENATE GRANTS FINAL APPROVAL TO CIVIL SERVICE REFORM The Senate on Wednesday granted final approval to the government's civil service reform bill, ending the measures two-and-a-half-year passage through Congress. -- GANG ROBS SEVEN TRUCKS CARRYING TV SETS TO SAO PAULO A convoy of seven trucks carrying 2,000 television sets from the Amazon port of Manaus to Sao Paulo was hijacked and robbed by 15 heavily armed men just shy of completing the 2,500-kilometer journey. - - - O GLOBO -- HIGH COURT RULES IN FAVOR OF GOVERNMENT Brazil's highest court voted Wednesday in favor of a government bid to reduce a 28.86-percent raise given to seven federal workers who claimed they were entitled to the same pay hike granted to the armed forces in 1993.

To: Steve Fancy who wrote (1185)	3/12/1998 2:08:00 PM
From: Steve Fancy	Respond to of 22640

Brazil releases model accords for Telebras buyers BRASILIA, March 12 (Reuters) - Brazil's National Telecommunications Agency (ANATEL) on Thursday released final drafts of three concession contracts which set out the operating rules for buyers soon-to-be-privatized federal holding Telebras (TEL_p.SA). The three documents, totalling 150 pages, contain the rules for local, domestic long-distance and international long-distance telephone services for the new owners of Telebras (TBR - news). The contracts laid down the terms and conditions on issues ranging from rates to network expansion. ANATEL, Brazil's new telecom regulator, planned to hold a news conference at 1530 local time/1330 EST to explain the model contracts.