Nextel made a decisive step into the Brazilian 3G market after it won 11 of the 13 lots available for the Band H spectrum at an auction on 14 December.
The Brazilian telco, owned by US holding company NII Holdings, bid more than R$1.2bn (over US$715m)…
Nextel made a decisive step into the Brazilian 3G market after it won 11 of the 13 lots available for the Band H spectrum at an auction on 14 December.
The Brazilian telco, owned by US holding company NII Holdings, bid more than R$1.2bn (over US$715m) for the 11 lots. The premiums it paid ranged between 0% and 250.5%.
These 11 lots cover over 182 million people in Brazil (97% of the population) and all the major Brazilian cities.
The other two Band H lots went to Brasil Telecom, part of the Oi group, and CTBC.
Nextel and CTBC were expected to take many of the lots after Brazilian regulator Anatel, which was overseeing the auction, said that it would favour new 3G operators in the auction.
If they did not express interest, then the existing operators – Claro, Oi, TIM and Vivo – would then be able to bid.
Oi and SindiTelebrasil, a union representing Brazilian telephone companies and workers, both appealed against Anatel’s decision in early November. They obtained an order from a Federal Court for Anatel to review its decision to prioritise new operators.
But after carrying out this review, Anatel still decided to reject Oi and SindiTelebrasil’s appeals.
Anatel also started its auction for a further 152 lots on 14 December. These were for leftover spectrum that had gone unsold before.
With this part of the auction, the existing operators won a far greater proportion of the lots. Vivo paid over R$645m (over US$380m) for 13 lots.
The auction for SMP licences was not completed on 14 December and will continue the following day.
Nextel has been performing strongly in the Brazilian market in recent years. Predominantly through its iDEN services, it has recorded average annual growth of 40% since 2005. It has the highest ARPU among Brazilian carriers (US$63) and the lowest rate of customers deactivating their accounts.
In a statement, NII Holdings said that Nextel would launch commercial services on its 3G network within the next 12 to 18 months.
NII Holdings CEO Steven Dussek said: “Winning 3G spectrum in Brazil is an important milestone for the company, and it will allow us to invest, build and deploy a 3G network across the country, expanding our coverage and enabling us to provide a wider range of higher-value wireless services to our current and future customers in the country.”
In all, bidders offered R$2.2bn (almost US$1.3bn) for 36 lots in 27 service areas.
