Bogota Council has rejected a plan to sell its 86.6% stake in telco Empresa de Telecomunicaciones de Bogota (ETB).
In a statement today, the company said that the fifteen councillors that make up the council’s commission had rejected the deal.
The…
Bogota Council has rejected a plan to sell its 86.6% stake in telco Empresa de Telecomunicaciones de Bogota (ETB).
In a statement today, the company said that the fifteen councillors that make up the council’s commission had rejected the deal.
The town mayor, Clara Lopez Obregon, said: “The fifteen honourable councillors that make up the Commission of the Governance Council have given a show of responsibility and commitment with the defence of the public estate.”
The former acting mayor, Christina Plazas Michelsen, convened a series of council meetings to discuss the potential privatisation of ETB in June.
She said at the time that the company had been looking for a sale for the previous thirteen years.
“What we cannot permit, because we must protect the estate of the Bogotan people, is that the company continues to lose value,” she said.
Current mayor Lopez is a member of the left-leaning Alternative Pole Democratic (Polo) party, which has campaigned vehemently against the deal.
In a speech made yesterday, which was published by Polo, Lopez said that ETB had already started negotiations on a potential strategic alliance with the triple-play provider UNE Telecomunicaciones and “large foreign state companies”.
She added that these alliances could be made without altering the public character of ETB.
ETB provides fixed-line, TV and internet services. Lopez described it as the third largest telecoms operator in the country.
ETB is competing against Telefonica, Telmex and UNE in the Colombian market.
According to local newspaper El Espectador, ETB’s board had recommended that the state sell its shares last December.
Its operation costs had increased, while its share of the local market had fallen from 82% in 2005 to 74% in 2010.
