Telefonica’s Brazilian outfit Telefonica Brazil and Swedish mobile internet group AINMT Holdings have signed a memorandum of understanding to explore a potential partnership.
The telcos are discussing building an LTE network on the 450MHz frequency…
Telefonica’s Brazilian outfit Telefonica Brazil and Swedish mobile internet group AINMT Holdings have signed a memorandum of understanding to explore a potential partnership.
The telcos are discussing building an LTE network on the 450MHz frequency band, where Telefonica holds concessions, with the aim of providing voice and broadband services in rural areas. AINMT could potentially operate services in Brazil.
AINMT has expertise in this area operating under the Net1 and ice.net brands in Scandinavia where it offers wireless broadband, VoIP and M2M services via the 450MHz band.
This low band of spectrum is particularly suitable for covering large, rural areas.
“The great virtue of 450MHz is coverage, its great weakness is capacity,” explained Wally Swain, vice-president of research at Yankee Group.
“That makes it ideal for low density rural projects. The Brazilian government wants to expand digital inclusion and this is a good technology to do so,” he said.
Brazilian press reported that AINMT, a subsidiary of Access Industries, was considering bidding in the 4G auction in June but decided against participating in the end.
Telefonica won spectrum in the 450MHz in the tender and has build out commitments tied into its 4G licences.
Jose Otero, president of Signals Telecom Consulting, commented that the move would allow Telefonica to focus on its core business.
“AINMT provides Telefonica with the required experience to create a successful business model for the commercial exploitation of this band,” he said.
Today Telefonica Brazil revealed in its Q3 results that its profit had dropped 30% in the last quarter with the Brazilian market slowing.
All of Brazil’s wireless operators are under pressure to improve and expand their networks in the next few years as the World Cup and Olympics approach.
