Brazil's Oi to create telecom giant by merger

2008-01-11 11:08:54 [ Big Normal Small ]    　Comment

Brazilian telephone operator Oi announced Thursday it is negotiating to acquire its local competitor Brazil Telecom for 2.7 billion U.S. dollars.

The move would create the largest telecom company in the country. If accomplished, the acquisition would turn Oi into a major fixed-telephone operator in almost all 27 Brazilian states, except for the state of Sao Paulo, where Spain-headquartered Telefonica controls the service.

In terms of mobile telephone, the merger will raise Oi's share in the Brazilian market from the current 13.14 percent to 16.74 percent. The Telefonica-controlled operators Vivo and TIM share 27.6 percent and 25.88 percent of the country's mobile service respectively, with Claro controlled by a Mexico-headquartered telecom company trailing at 21.64 percent.

The merger would also create a company whose revenues would have totaled 12.1 billion dollars in the January-September period in 2007.

Sources said that talks on the acquisition of Brazil Telecom, which started from Mid-2007, have gathered pace since Monday.

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