George Soros, the billionaire hedge fund investor, is to take control of Sunrise Telecomunicaçoes, a local pay-TV company in São Paulo.
Anatel, Brazil’s telecoms regulator, said on Friday it had given permission for Soros Fund Management to take over the operator ahead of a key auction of broadcast licenses this month that is expected to boost the sector.
Brazilian newspaper Valor Economico reported this week that Soros was planning to make a R$500m ($250m) investment in the company, which operates in 12 regions in the state of São Paulo.
Sorus Fund Management was unavailable for comment.
The investment by the Soros fund comes as Brazil is preparing to hold an auction of fourth-generation mobile spectrum this month.
Anatel cleared the rules for the event in April. Successful bidders in the auction will have to be able to offer advanced wireless services in six host cities for soccer’s Confederations Cup by April next year, ahead of the Fifa World Cup soccer final in 2014.
The successful bidders will need to roll out services for all 12 host cities by the World Cup.
Improving telecommunications and internet access, especially in rural and poorer areas of the country, has become a priority under president Dilma Rousseff.
Under the recently introduced national broadband plan, the government has promised to invest as much as R$1bn (US$500m) a year until 2014 to expand high-speed internet of 1 megabyte per second across Brazil.
Mobile internet is an attractive segment in the Latin American country where many consumers in the rising middle class are able to buy their first smart phone, but may still not be able to afford their own computer.
Local media have also reported that Mr Soros may be looking to invest in Haztec Tecnologia E Planejamento Ambiental, a Brazilian environmental services company.
http://www.ft.com
No comments:
Post a Comment