By Matthew Cowley
SAO PAULO--Brazilian mobile phone company TIM Participacoes SA
(TIMP3.BR) on Tuesday said it's picked three companies to build a
new high-speed mobile Internet network, the final mobile operator
in Brazil to announce 4G LTE technology contracts.
Brazil's government has pushed ahead rapidly with a move to
deploy 4G LTE technology, as it's keen to ensure the country has
high-speed mobile broadband technology when it hosts the soccer
Confederation Cup next year, as well as the World Cup in 2014. The
country has some 257 million mobile phone subscribers, in a country
with a population of 190 million.
TIM, the second-largest operator in Brazil in terms of
subscribers, said that it has once again selected Ericsson (ERIC,
ERIC-B.SK), China's Huawei Technologies Co. and Nokia Siemens
Networks to build the network.
TIM, part of Telecom Italia SpA (TIT.MI), signed a 1 billion
Brazilian reais ($492 million) contract with the three companies
last year for the supply of GSM and 3G equipment, each one working
in a different region. The same firms will now implement their 4G
LTE equipment in the regions they're already supplying for GSM and
3G, TIM said.
TIM said it's invested around BRL400 million to buy the
frequency spectrum that will allow it to provide 4G LTE services.
It didn't say how much it's investing in the new contracts.
Telefonica Brasil SA (VIV, VIVT4.BR), the largest operator,
picked Ericsson to build its 4G network in the north and
center-west of Brazil, as well as Sao Paulo, Minas Gerais and Bahia
states. Huawei will provide equipment for the cities of Fortaleza,
Recife and Rio de Janeiro, said Telefonica, a unit of Spain's
Telefonica SA (TEF, TEF.MC).
Claro, a unit of Mexico's America Movil SAB de CV (AMX, AMX.MX,
AMOV), picked Ericsson to supply equipment for Sao Paulo, Rio de
Janeiro and Rio Grande do Sul states; it hasn't yet divulged the
names of its other suppliers.
Oi SA (OIBR, OIBR4.BR) picked Alcatel-Lucent (ALU), Ericsson and
Nokia Siemens; the firm has said it will invest BRL1 billion in 4G
technology.
As of September, Telefonica had 30% share of Brazil's mobile
phone market, TIM had 27%, Claro had 24% and Oi had 19%.
Sky Brasil, a pay-TV operator, late last year launched a fixed
high-speed Internet access service using mobile 4G LTE technology
in the capital city, Brasilia. The company uses technology of Nokia
Siemens--a joint-venture of Nokia Corp. (NOK) and Siemens AG (SI)
to provide high-speed Internet services to complement its TV
services--competing directly with traditional cable and copper-line
Internet access.
-Write to Matthew Cowley at matthew.cowley@dowjones.com
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