Brazil’s telecoms regulator Anatel has blocked Nextel Brazil, a subsidiary of NII Holdings, from acquiring licences from bankrupt operator Unicel.
The regulator said it barred the transaction on the grounds that Nextel and Unicel, which operated as…
Brazil’s telecoms regulator Anatel has blocked Nextel Brazil, a subsidiary of NII Holdings, from acquiring licences from bankrupt operator Unicel.
The regulator said it barred the transaction on the grounds that Nextel and Unicel, which operated as Aeiou, have licences in the same areas. Therefore a merger would contravene the law, it argued.
Unicel’s licences have been stripped from the operator – it filed for bankruptcy in 2011 – and will be put up for auction some time this year.
The licences are for spectrum in the 1.8GHz and 1.9GHz bands in a number of regions, including Sao Paulo.
The big four operators have reached the limits of how much spectrum they are allowed to own, so Anatel’s recent decision clears the way for either a significantly smaller operator to bolster its holdings or for a new player to enter the market.
Nextel is a subsidiary of US-based, LatAm-focused NII Holdings and has roughly four million subscribers in Brazil.
