Telefonica Moviles Merges Management At Chilean Units

SANTIAGO -(Dow Jones)- Spanish mobile telecommunications companies Telefonica Moviles SA (TEM) has merged the management of its Chilean units as the next step in merging the two, the company said late Monday.

The Spanish company last year bought Bellsouth Corp.'s (BLS) Latin American units and is in the process of merging them with its older units.

Local antitrust authorities recently cleared the deal that allows Telefonica Moviles to leapfrog into first place among the Andean country's three remaining mobile telephony groups with 4.7 million customers, about 1.3 million more than its closest rival, Empresa Nacional de Telecomunicaciones SA (ENTEL.SN).

The combined management will be led by Chief Executive Oliver Floegel. The companies will fully merge in February, with some unspecified layoffs to result, the company said.

The company will continue to use both brand names, Telefonica Movil and Bell South Chile, for a transitional period "that will conclude with the integration of their commercial platforms and the launch of a new unified brand for the integrated company," Telefonica Moviles said in its statement.

-By Stephan Kueffner, Dow Jones Newswires; +562-460-8546; stephan.kueffner@dowjones.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires "

Posted to the site on 1st February 2005