Chile OKs Telefonica Moviles, BellSouth Merger"

SANTIAGO -(Dow Jones)- Chile's Free Competition Tribunal approved the merger of local mobile operating units of Spain's Telefonica Moviles (TEM) and BellSouth (BLS) of the U.S., the agency said in a Tuesday press release.

But the agency said Telefonica Moviles will have to sell a portion of the concessions it has for mobile telephone frequencies within 18 months, among a few other requirements. Spanish telecommunications giant Telefonica SA (TEF), Telefonica Moviles' parent, agreed in March to pay $5.85 billion for Atlanta-based BellSouth's Latin American assets, which include 10.6 million wireless clients across 10 countries.

In Chile, the purchase would give Telefonica Moviles roughly half of the country's 7 million wireless clients.

In Latin America, it would bring Telefonica's Moviles' subscriber base up to 43 million clients, or roughly one-third of the total wireless market.

Antitrust attorney Web site: http://www.fne.cl

-By Patricia San Juan, Dow Jones Newswires; 562 460 8546; patty.sanjuan@dowjones.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires "

Posted to the site on 4th January 2005