Oi
- The Final Balance of Oi's Cash Flow grew to R$ 3,761 million, with the inflow of R$ 2,264 million from the sale of Unitel and the issuance of debentures. Net Operating Cash Generation was negative by R$ 413 million in Jan/20;
- Oi invested R$ 685 million in January, of which 424 million at Oi mobile. Total investment was 13.6% higher than that of Jan/19;
- Oi put into operation its FTTH network in Passo Fundo, Santa Cruz do Sul and Santa Maria;
- ON shares lost 38% in the week and PN 27%.
Covid-19 and increased traffic on networks
The restrictive measures taken to contain the spread of covid-19, with companies adopting the home office and people increasing the consumption of video as a form of entertainment, is leading to an increase in traffic on the telecommunications service networks.
In face of this scenario, Anatel and the telecommunications providers signed a "Public Commitment for the Maintenance of Connected Brazil", so that the country can go through the current crisis in the best possible way:
- The services will continue to work;
- Health and public security services will have special support;
- Consumer difficulties will be addressed;
- The population will be well informed.
Brazilian Ministry of Science, Technology, Innovations and Communications created the Crisis Committee for Supervision and Monitoring of the Impacts of COVID-19 in the scope of Communications - MCTIC CONNECTED NETWORK.
Algar Telecom's Results
- Algar Telecom's net revenue grew 0.1% in 2019, totaling R$ 2.9 billion;
- The EBITDA margin reached 37% and net profit R$ 303 million. Investments increased 3% and net debt 42.7%;
- Brazilian Federal Accounts Court unanimously approved the Conduct Adjustment Term signed between Algar Telecom and Anatel, in the amount of R$ 76 million.
Other highlights
- Telebrás net revenue increased 2.3%, totaling R$ 204 million, but the company continues to show loss (R$ 238 million);
- Grupo Globo's net revenue from sales, advertising and services activities decreased by 4% in 2019, totaling R$ 14.1 billion;
- BT announced the sale of part of the infrastructure operations and facilities in 16 countries in Latin America, including Brazil, to CIH Telecommunications Americas. Among the assets in São Paulo, 650 km of owned fiber networks, 2 thousand leased fiber networks, four data centers and five teleports were included in the transaction.
Coming soon
- Oi will report 2019 results (March 26th)
Oi
- Oi informed that it received comments from third parties interested in the Company's mobile business. Telefônica Brasil and TIM have communicated to the market their interest in initiating negotiations with a view to a potential joint acquisition of the Oi Group's mobile business, in whole or in part. Claro also showed interest in participating in this process;
- In order to promote the progress of Oi's mobile business sale, it will be necessary for this option to be approved by the Creditors' General Meeting, which must be held by November 1st and approved by the Court. The next steps would be the approvals from Anatel and CADE;
- York Global Finance Fund reduced its stake in Oi from 9.54% to 4.52%;
- ON shares lost 10.1% in the week and PN shares 2.4%.
TIM
TIM released its Strategic Plan for 2020-2022, which addresses the following pillars:
- Infrastructure: IT investments, efficient use of spectrum (MIMO and refarming) and 5G;
- Mobile: Prioritize Value and Not Volume;
- Fixed broadband: Selective growth, partnership to create a neutral fiber infrastructure asset in Brazil;
- Efficiency through digital transformation;
- Beyond Core: IoT, digital advertising and financial services.
The operator preferred not to detail its Guidance goals. For revenue, the growth target is one digit (average). The 1999 target was 3-5% and growth would have been 2.4%.
5G
- The International Commission for the Protection against Non-Ionizing Radiation (ICNIRP), adopted as a reference by law in Brazil, found no evidence to suggest that 5G technologies pose a risk to human health, after a seven-year scientific study in the field;
- Verizon and AT&T continue to buy frequencies in millimeter waves. In this week's auction, Verizon spent more than US$ 1.6 billion and AT&T US$ 1.186 billion. This appetite is not being followed in other countries of the world, due to the uncertainties in the commercial viability of using these bands, but it can influence the minimum price of these frequencies to be established by Anatel in the bidding of frequencies for 5G.
Smartphones
- 48.6 million cell phones were sold in Brazil in 2019, of which 45.5 million smartphones and 3.1 million feature phones. The number of units sold grew 3.3% in the year and revenue 5.6%. Smartphone sales revenue reched R$ 56.3 billion and feature phones 376.8 million. (IDC)
- WhatsApp, the main mobile messaging service, is present in 99% of smartphones in Brazil. Telegram by 27%. However SMS continues to be used every day or almost every day (24% send and 59% receive). (Panorama Mobile Time / Opinion Box)
RTI 20 years
Other highlights
- In 2019, Algar expanded its FTTH network in 32 municipalities through franchises;
- Telefônica Brasil (Vivo) intends to convert the preferred shares into common shares in the proportion of one PN to one ON;
- Algar Telecom, Claro, Oi, Sercomtel, Sky, TIM and Vivo launched the Telecommunications Self-Regulation System (SART), which intends to present in the coming months Codes of Conduct to be followed by these operators, for offers, service and collections.
Coming Soon
- Oi announces 2019 results (March/26th)
5G
- New measurements made by Opensignal in the US confirm results previously obtained in relation to the availability and speed of 5G depending on the frequency used by the operator;
- At low frequencies, such as 600 MHz, the speed is close to that of 4G+ (48 Mbps) and availability (user time in 5G) higher (53%);
- At higher frequencies (28 GHz, millimeter waves), the speed is much higher (733 MHz), but the user is spending only 6% of the time on 5G;
- Anatel will hold an event "Espaço 5G" at its headquarters in Brasília. For two weeks, starting on March 25, the general public will have access to technology demonstrations, lectures and workshops. That's a good initiative!
- Huawei has announced plans to build a 4G and 5G equipment factory in France.
Glomo Awards of MWC 2020
Although the MWC event was canceled due to the coronavirus, the winners of the Global Mobile Awards 2020 (of which I participate as a judge) were announced. Here are some highlights:
- Best Network Software Breakthrough: Parallel Wireless for OpenRAN
- CTO Award: Ericsson Spectrum Share
- 5G Leadership Award: Huawei’s E2E 5G Products
- Best Mobile Innovation for Payment and Fintech: Juvo
- Tech of the Future Award: Huawei for Atlas 900 AI Cluster
- Best Smartphone: OnePlus 7T Pro
- Disruptive Device Innovation: Qualcomm Snapdragon X55 5G Modem-RF System
See the full list at:
https://www.mwcbarcelona.com/global-mobile-awards/winners/
Oi
- Oi filed in court a request to hold a General Creditors' Meeting (“AGC”), with the objective of making changes to its Judicial Reorganization Plan, in order to achieve greater operational and financial flexibility and comply with the strategic plan presented in 2019;
- The company intends to keep its focus on the massification of optical fiber and the modifications to be proposed may enable the sale of its mobile operations;
- Oi concluded the sale of the building at Avenida General Polidoro, 99, in Botafogo, Rio de Janeiro, for R$ 120.5 million;
- ON shares lost 10.7% in the week and PN 9.6%.
Vivo Fiber
Telefônica presented its strategy for the deployment of FTTH networks in Brazilian cities:
- In the large ones, Vivo will make the investments alone.
- In medium-sized cities, investment funds will enter as partners and Vivo will have priority in renting the network for a period, before opening this possibility to the rest of the market.
- In small ones, investments will be made by franchisees with the Terra brand.
Other highlights
- We welcome the Telecom Infra Project (TIP), which now has a dedicated section on the Teleco website. TIP seeks to drive innovation across the telecommunications segments;
- https://www.teleco.com.br/tip/default.asp
- Concerns about the spread of the corona virus dominated the news and caused stock markets around the world to drop significantly. Netflix's shares, however, are growing amid the turmoil. They were up more than 5% this week, while the S&P 500 fell about 9%. In China, broadband consumption has also increased.
