RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The operators initially rejected speculations, but now they are openly discussing the subject: they can expand their frequency spectrum to compete with Claro, which will have greater power after its acquisition of Nextel.
Vivo’s CEO, Christian Gebara, said that Vivo will always analyze assets available on the market and that the operator would be interested in acquiring Oi’s frequencies should they be for sale. TIM’s CEO, Pietro Labriola, said something similar: the company will evaluate a potential purchase if this generates profit for shareholders.
However, both executives state that the acquisition would be conditional upon Anatel’s 5G auction, which should occur next year. Gebara says that the auction will provide licenses that can also be used with 4G, which involve frequencies between 700 MHz and 2.3 GHz.
Vivo is not targeting Oi’s fixed network, while TIM is considering acquiring the operator’s backhaul in case this generates value. During the disclosure of financial results, Claro also showed interest in buying Oi, depending on business details and obstacles of Brazilian legislation.
Oi’s frequencies would be welcome for TIM and Vivo
The acquisition of Oi’s spectrum would be of great value to any of the operators, which had a very large capacity gap in relation to Claro due to its acquisition of Nextel.
However, Anatel establishes a maximum limit of 172.5 MHz of capacity per provider per city – it may be extended to 181.12 MHz with the authorization of the agency, for frequencies between one GHz and three GHz.
Source: Tecnoblog