Anatel Committee Approves Unicel Bid for GSM License

The licensing committee within Brazil's telecoms regulator Anatel has approved a bid by local firm Unicel do Brasil Telecomunicações (Unicel) for a GSM mobile license in the São Paulo (SP) metropolitan area, Anatel said in a statement.

Anatel's board of directors will still need to give the final green light for Unicel to become the city's fourth operator alongside Vivo, TIM and América Móvil's unit Claro.

Unicel, the sole bidder for this license with an offer of 93.8mn reais (US$45mn), aims to start operations in 120 days from securing the final approval.

The operator estimates that it will need to invest US$150mn in network infrastructure and other expenses before it becomes a profitable operation.

Unicel was also the sole bidder in an auction for this license on February 21, 2006. However, the bid was disqualified because Unicel wanted to provide a guarantee of only 1% of the 93.8mn-real minimum value rather than 10% as required by Anatel.

There was also a failed attempt to auction the fourth license in September 2004."

Posted to the site on 20th March 2007