Brazilian mobile phone company expands
Brazilian mobile phone company, Vivo, has bought 13 new wireless licences this week.
The purchase will give the network nationwide coverage of Brazil, which is the world’s fifth-largest mobile phone market.
The company outbid a small handful of rivals paying 170 million reais (£45.1 million) for the licence, which will enable it to operate in six of Brazil’s north-eastern states.
Vivo’s lack of coverage in these areas, which are currently key locations for investors looking to buy property in Brazil’s emerging market, had put the company at a disadvantage against rivals such as Telecom Italia, reports Reuters.
Vivo is owned by Portugal Telecom and Telefonica and is the biggest telecommunications operator in the southern hemisphere.
In 2004 the company founded the Vivo Institute, an organisation which manages the company’s social investment.
The institute aims to improve the welfare in communities where the mobile phone network operates. So far, its volunteer programme has enlisted more than 600 people to transcribe books into Braille for visually impaired youngsters.
