LatAm news

Phoenix Tower International has announced the acquisition of approximately 60 Panamanian telecom sites from American Tower. The portfolio represents a mix of urban and suburban locations and further contributes to the company’s expansion into Latin America following its creation, back in 2013.

Telefónica will invest US$ 225ml in Movistar to expand its 4G LTE coverage to 300 cities by the end of 2015.

The Mexican Secretario de Comunicaciones y Transportes (SCT) is planning 700MHz tests to collect useful information ahead of the planned US$ 10bn open access wifi network. Local news sources reported that the Mexican government has already received the first bid for the state-owned network but information on the bidder haven’t been made public.

América Móvil has hired Bank of America to sell certain domestic telecoms, as reported by Bloomberg earlier this month. The Mexican giant is planning the sale to cut its market share below 50%, as required by the newly enforced telecom regulation. Interested buyers include AT&T and Softbank Corp of Japan.

Softbank Corp of Japan might invest in Mexican telco Grupo Iusacell. The Japanese company already controls Sprint Corp in the United States and is reportedly in talks with América Móvil too.

The merger between Colombian telco Tigo and fixed line operator Une-EPM was successfully completed on 14 August. The newly formed entity will be able to offer its customers a broad array of services including fixed and mobile voice and data as well as TV services. Millicom International Cellular, owner of Tigo, will take on net debt of US$ 1.3 billion as part of the deal.

Four companies have pre-qualified for 4G licenses which should be assigned within the month of October. The pre-qualified companies are Movinet, Telefónica’s Movistar Venezuela and two potential new entrants: Multiphone Venezuela and Galaxy Entertainment Venezuela.

Conatel, the national telecom regulator, announced that the final allocation will occur within ten working days from the announcement and after the technical analysis of the tenders. License conditions include 4G rollout in key cities within the first year of operation and coverage in all state capitals within four years.

The 700MHz LTE spectrum auction ended on September 30 and assigned nationwide spectrum blocks to Vivo, TIM Brasil and Claro. Algar Telecom increased its spectrum in the regions covered by its services. As previously announced, Oi and Nextel didn’t participate in the auction. The auction raised a total of US$ 2.3bn instead of the expected US$ 3.2bn.

T4U Holding Brasil, a Brasilian towerco, and its shareholder D Dots Investments are planning to sell an undisclosed amount of shares via an IPO.

Tim and Oi are extending their network sharing deal to 88 new locations by 2015. The two operators have firstly signed an LTE network sharing agreement in 2013 which currently reaches 45 cities.

Telecom Italia has set the asking price for its 67% stake in TIM Brasil at US$ 16.8 billion, with the company’s valuation reaching approximately US$ 25.5 billion. Companies reportedly interested in TIM’s stake include Oi and América Móvil, who are said to be discussing a possible joint bid.

Telecom Italia is said to be assessing a possible stock market listing of its Italian and Brazilian telecom towers. The company aims at cutting debt and raising capital and the sale of its assets could raise US$ 2.6 billion or more, sources report.

Chilean Entel disclosed its investment plans for its Peruvian operations which will reach US$ 1.2 billion for the period 2015-2020. Nextel Peru will receive as much as US$ 250 million per year in capital with the aim to boost its operations.  Entel plans to expand Nextel Peru’s market share from 5% to 30% and has announced its intention to entirely rebrand the company by the end of the year.

Movistar Peru announced its investment plans just under US$ 100 million to connect 2,327 rural locations by 2017. To date, the Spanish backed telco has installed 1,000 towers as part of its rural rollout programme, as agreed with the government when renewing its license in January 2013.

Movistar has launched LTE services in selected locations in Montevideo which will be offered to existing subscribers for free. The operator plans to expand its 4G services to other locations over the next few months.

Claro Paraguay will invest as much as US$ 100 million to further expand its infrastructure. The company is the third operator of the country with a 7.6% market share.

NII Holdings is planning to sell its Chilean operations to a joint venture of companies including US private equity firm Optimum Advisers, Argentinian Grupo Veintitres and UK investment firm ISM Capital. Troubled NII Holdings might file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy after failing to agree with bondholders on debt restructuring.

Four companies have presented documents to take part in the upcoming 3G and 4G LTE auction. Spectrum permits should be awarded by the end of October and operators currently bidding include Claro Argentina, Telecom Personal, Movistar and Airlink.

The Secretaría de Comunicaciones (SECOM) has not yet approved Telecom Italia’s plan for the sale of its unit to Mexican investment company Fintech, which offered US$ 960 million back in November 2013. The deadline for the approval has been delayed twice already.