Brazilian Competitive Long Distance Company Announces Railroad
Agreements, Other Details of Progress Toward Service This Year
RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil, May 18 /PRNewswire/ -- The Brazilian competitive
long distance company owned by Great Britain's National Grid, Sprint
(NYSE: FON - news) and France Telecom (NYSE: FTE - news) today announced
railway rights-of- way agreements, a plan to make the final payment on
its license early, and other details of progress toward its goal of
providing long distance service across Brazil by the end of the year.
The company, which is temporarily called Bonari until a formal name
selection later this year, will for the first time offer Brazilian
consumers a competitive choice of long distance and international
service with a full range of features. Until now, consumers have had
only the option of using Embratel service.
''We will build the most modern telecommunications network in the
country, using state-of-the-art digital technology. Our objective is to
offer a complete portfolio of communications service, including voice,
data and Internet services for residential and business customers in
Brazil,'' said John Berndt, interim Chief Executive Officer of Bonari.
''More important, however, is our commitment to listen to our customers
and to provide fast, simple and friendly service.''
To that end, the company has made significant progress since it
purchased in January 1999 the license to provide competitive services in
South America's largest market, he said in a update briefing to
reporters.
The company announced today that it has signed a memorandum of
understanding with RailNET -- a consortium of seven railroads which
operate a combined network of 15,500 miles of railway -- and signed a
contract with Sao Paulo Metro for rights-of-way. Under the terms of the
memorandum, the railroads will grant Bonari the right to install its
fiber optic cable along 6,200 miles or more of their rail tracks during
the next three years. The terms of the memorandum are presently under
review as part of the approval process with the Rede Ferroviaria and
Ministerio dos Transportes. The Sao Paulo Metro agreement provides
right-of-way access in that city.
Additionally, the company said it has informed Anatel, the regulatory
body of telecommunications in Brazil, that it will pay off the remaining
$33 million Brazilian Reais of the total $55 million Reais ($34.3
million US) license fee by the end of May. The final payment is being
made nearly three years early as a demonstration of the company's long
term commitment to Brazil, officials said.
Bonari expects to award the first contracts in June to high-quality
vendors who will assist in the building of its network and information
technology infrastructure. The company has solicited quotations from
Brazilian and international vendors for: network equipment (switch, data
and transmission), information technology (customer care, billing,
financial and network information systems) and fiber optic and
satellite-related construction.
Having chosen Rio de Janeiro for its headquarters, the company intends
to open sales offices and locate data centers, call centers,
transmission and switch facilities in other parts of the country. Bonari
is currently looking for a permanent headquarters site, and will be
expanding its temporary space in the near future to accommodate its
rapidly expanding workforce.
According to forecasts, Bonari will employ about 800 people nationwide
in 1999 and expects to have more than 3,000 employees within the next
five years.
Bonari's state-of-the art fiber optic backbone network will be built
with points of presence in 38 cities this year, including the 27
Brazilian state capitals, the federal capital and 10 other large cities
with more than 500,000 inhabitants. The network will be constructed
through a combination of company-owned optical fiber routes over leased
rights of way, leased lines and satellite links. Bonari will
aggressively build its network so that it can quickly transfer traffic
from those leased lines to its own network.
Optical-fiber routes will be installed to link the major cities within
Brazil's eastern states with satellite systems used for transmission to
and from the western areas of Brazil. Specifically, permanent earth
stations will be installed in Manaus, Campo, Grande, Cuiaba, Porto
Velho, Macapa, Boa Vista and Rio Branco by the end of 2000.
In 1999, plans are to serve priority routes with about 2,200 kilometers
of its own fiber optic network. Five switching centers will be built
with the main switches located in Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo, Salvador,
Fortaleza and Belem. A total of 15 switches will be built when the
network is completed.
The Partners
National Grid
National Grid is one of the United Kingdom's top 50 companies. It is the
owner and operator of the electricity transmission network in England
and Wales, and created and maintains the Energis network, the highly
successful UK telecommunications company. It has introduced new
standards of service and care, together with competitive pricing.
National Grid brings to Brazil a total array of network development
skills, including management of large network installation contracts in
rapid time scales, installation of optical fiber cable and experience in
managing other fiber contractors. It is quoted on the London Stock
Exchange at a market value of over US$10 billion.
France Telecom
France Telecom is one of the world's leading telecommunications
carriers, with 1998 consolidated operating revenues of 24.6 billion
euros and operations in more than 50 countries. France Telecom provides
businesses, consumers and other carriers with a complete portfolio of
solutions that spans local, long- distance and international telephony,
data, wireless, multimedia, Internet, cable TV, broadcast and
value-added services. France Telecom held an initial public offering in
October 1997 and is listed on the Paris and New York (NYSE: FTE - news)
stock exchanges. (http://www.francetelecom.fr)
Sprint
Sprint is a global United States-based communications company -- at the
forefront of integrating long distance, local and wireless
communications services, and one of the largest carriers of Internet
traffic. Sprint built and operates the United States' first nationwide
all-digital, fiber-optic network and is a leader in advanced data
communications services. Sprint has $17 billion in annual revenues and
serves more than 17 million business and residential customers.
SOURCE: Sprint |
