TIM to Compete in Fixed Line Space Using Mobile Phones

Brazil's second largest mobile phone company TIM Participações is scheduled to launch a service transforming mobile phones into a fixed line service, local newspaper Gazeta Mercantil reported.

The new promotion, called TIM Casa, enables customers to use their mobile telephone to make calls from their homes at a monthly rate cheaper than for fixed wire connections.

"Consumers know that a mobile to mobile call is cheaper than a fixed to mobile call. Now they will discover that also that a mobile to fixed call will cost less than a fixed to fixed call when calling from a predetermined geographical base," company marketing director Marco Lopes said.

TIM Participações is the Brazilian mobile phone unit of Telecom Italia. The company's client base reached 22.3 million users across all Brazilian states at the end of the second quarter, up 33.3% compared to the same period in 2005, BNamericas previously reported.

According to local telecommunications regulator Anatel, TIM now has 24.8% of mobile telephony market in the country.

TIM will compete with the three largest fixed line operators in Brazil, Telefónica, Telemar, and Brasil Telecom.

BNAmericas.com"

Posted to the site on 26th September 2006