Oi
Anatel's approval for the sale of Oi Mobile is in the final stretch. The urgency in the deliberation is being justified by the possible end, in March of this year, of the Judicial Reorganization process of Oi Group.
Counselor Emmanoel presented his report last Friday recommending approval with some medicines. Counselor Vicente Aquino asked for views and a new meeting will be held this Monday (January 31st).
The proposal is to divide Oi Mobile into three Special Purpose Entities (SPE), corresponding to the share of each buyer:
- COZANI ("SPE TIM")
- GARLIAVA ("SPE TELEFÔNICA")
- JONAVA ("SPE CLARO")
These Mobile SPEs would then be merged into each operator within 18 months.
In addition to giving the Prior Consent for the corporate transaction and transfer of grants (sale) to be carried out, Anatel must also give Consent to Industrial Exploration Contracts between MOBILE SPEs, on a transitional basis in order to maintain the continuity of service of OI MOBILE users and between buyers and MOBILE SPE (RAN Sharing).
Counselor Emmanoel proposed as competitive remedies the obligations of:
- Roaming Reference Offer, adapting the content destined to small providers (PPPs)
- MVNO Referene Offer
- Plan of voluntary commitments for effective spectrum use
CADE's decision regarding the sale of Oi Mobile must be made by February 9th.
Oi's ON shares raised 20.9% in the week and PN by 13.7%. The Ibovespa appreciated by 2.7% in the week.
5G
- So far, only 19 5G SA (Core 5G) networks are in commercial operation worldwide. Operators are preferring to start operating their 5G networks using DSS or NSA (Core 4) as they are easier (and presumably cheaper) options for 5G deployment. (Dell'Oro Group)
- There is great interest in using the satellite in the Ku Band. In response to the public call made by Anatel, 209 entities showed interest, with 118 entities already broadcasting in Band C. (Tele.Síntese)
- Operators' obligations in relation to the 5G auction can be monitored in a new panel on Anatel's website.
Results 2021: Smartphones in the World
- Samsung led in smartphone sales in the world with market share of 20.1%, followed by Apple (17.4%) and Xiaomi (14.1%). 1.3 billion smartphones were sold worldwide in 2021, 5.7% more than in 2020. (IDC)
IoT: Sigfox
- Sigfox, a company that provides one of the LPWA connectivity technologies for IoT, has filed for judicial recovery in France.
- The decision was made because adoption of this technology is slower than expected, despite effective shareholder support.
- The company is looking for a buyer willing to continue the business.
- WND, Sigfox's representative in Brazil, declared that the operation will not be affected by the judicial recovery process abroad.
Fiber
- Brasil TecPar announced the acquisition of Ponto Com.
- Aneel has extended the deadline for contributing to the public consultation on the regulation of pole sharing to March 4th.
- The privatization process of Telebrás is expected to take place only in 2023.
Other Highlights
- Anatel approved the operation in Brazil of the Starlink and Swarm satellite constellations. The licenses are for 4,400 and 150 satellites in low orbit respectively.
- IHS acquired Torresur, adding 2,115 towers to its portfolio, which now has a total of 7 thousand.
- Councilor Emmanoel Campelo temporarily assumed the presidency of the Anatel Council, until the president of the republic chooses one of the three indicated on the council's list as interim.
- In 2021, Anatel seized more than 3.3 million telecom items not approved by the agency. They were valued in more than R$ 393 million.
Coming Soon
- Google, Facebook and Amazon will disclose results 2021
5G Auction: Cleaning the 3.5GHz band
The race has started for the 3.5 GHz bands to be released for 5G activation in capital cities and in Brasília by June. The schedule is tight:
- January 24th, deadline for open C-band TV stations to indicate the channels that will migrate to the Ku band.
- February 18th is the deadline for Vivo, Claro and TIM to form the an entity to manage the band (EAF - Entidade Administraa da da Banda), which will be responsible for cleaning the band and implementing the network of the Norte Conectado Program and the Government's Private Network. They must deposit around R$ 7.35 billion to the EAF by the end of February.
- March 10th, deadline for the indication of the Ku-band satellite that will receive the free-to-air TV channels that must leave the C band.
- EAF will have until early June to distribute Ku Band KITs to low-income users in capital cities and the Federal District.
5G
- US airlines' prediction of chaos did not materialize as AT&T and Verizon launched commercial 5G services using C-band spectrum, although several international flights were canceled due to concerns about interference with older aircraft's altimeters.
- The problem should not occur in Brazil, where the range used for 5G is further away from that used by planes, which does not occur in the US.
- TIM carried out, in partnership with Huawei, the first tests with VoNR 5G (Voice over New Radio) technology in Latin America.
5G Smartphones
- More than 226 million 5G smartphones were sold in China in 2021, 63.5% more than in 2020. 75.9% of the smartphones sold in China in 2021 were 5G. (CAICT)
- This sales volume helps to lower the price of 5G smartphones sold worldwide.
- According to Anatel, Brazil has 54 smartphone models compatible with 5G networks, 10 of which were approved in Jan/22.
Fiber
- Vero concluded the acquisition of Giganet, provider based in the state of Minas Gerais with around 46 thousand customers served with fiber. It postponed its IPO project until next year.
- Abrint filed a complaint with Anatel against the pilot project for sharing poles, elaborated by the companies Unifet and Enel, for restricting access to poles of other providers.
- Surf obtained approval from the Ministry of Communications for the issuance of incentivized debentures worth up to R$ 920 million for investments in telecommunications infrastructure.
- Denis Marcel Ferreira takes over as new CEO of Grupo Conexão, replacing Gilbert Minionis.
- Italian government has made € 3.7 billion available to help drive the rollout of 1Gb/s broadband services in underserved areas. The goal is to cover over 7 million homes with high-speed broadband networks offering 1Gbps download speeds and 200Mbps upload speeds. A reverse auction of 15 lots will be held and public funding will contribute up to 70% of the costs incurred.
Oi
- Oi's Final Cash Balance decreased by R$ 137 million in Nov/21, totaling R$ 2,628 million.
- Oi invested R$ 198 million in Nov/21, R$ 56 million less than in Oct/21.
- Counselor Vicente Aquino will be the rapporteur for the process of selling the control of V.tal, which brings together Oi's fiber assets, to BTG funds.
- The Specialized Federal Attorney's Office and Anatel's technical area did not identify impediments in relation to the operation. CADE has also approved the sale.
- CADE's decision regarding the sale of Oi Mobile should be made by February 9th.
- Oi's ON shares raised 19.4% in the week and PN grew 14.1%. The IBovespa appreciated 1.9% in the week.
Other Highlights
- Claro was the operator that delivered the highest speed in mobile in 4Q21 and Vivo in fixed broadband (Ookla).
- Netflix's 2021 net revenue (US$ 29.7 billion) was 18.8% higher than in 2020 and net profit (US$ 5.1 billion) grew 85.3% on the year. Its base of 222 million subscribers worldwide grew 8.9% in 2021. However, the value of Netflix shares fell due to projections, presented by the company, of lower growth in 1Q22.
- BNDESPAR launched a public call for selection of infrastructure investment funds. One of them, which should receive around R$ 500 million, will focus on telecom.
- Pietro Labriola has been confirmed as CEO of Grupo TIM (Telecom Italia) and a new executive is expected to be appointed as CEO of TIM Brasil.
- Highline deployed 702 new sites in Brazil in 2021, a total of 5,392.
- Microsoft acquired video game developer Activision Blizzard for US$ 69.7 billion.
5G
- 5G was the hottest theme of 2021 for 75% of readers who participated of Teleco's poll.
- In the main countries of the world, the adoption of 5G technology is happening faster than 4G and the same can happen in Brazil.
- 4G ended 2013, the year in which the first commercial networks were launched, with 1.3 million 4G cellulars.
- Brazil had 835 thousand 5G cell phones in Oct/21 and should end the year with over 1 million.
- With component shortages, vendors are prioritizing 5G cell phones and they should be top sellers by 2022.
Check out the 41 models of 5G smartphones approved by Anatel in Dec/21:
- Samsung: 12
- Motorola: 7
- Xiaomi: 7
- Asus: 6
- Apple: 4
- Realme: 3
- Multilaser: 1
- TCL: 1
Most of them are NSA, that is, they operate with the 4G core.
Oi
- Oi's ON shares showed a gain of 1.4% in the week and PN shares raised 1.6%. The IBovespa had losses of 0.1% in the week.
- Oi's ON shares devalued by 65.9% in the year and PN shares by 53.9%.
Other highlights
- Brazil ended 2021 with 4.8 million registered internet domains.
- Happy 2022 for everybody!!!
