Norte Brasil Telecom (NBT) see Tele Centro Oeste Celular Participacoes (TCO)

Active

Prospective

Norte Brasil Telecom (NBT), formely Tele Centro Oeste/Inepar, was awarded a 15-year concession to provide cellular phone services through the B band (800s MHz) in area 8 in November 1998. The area 8 comprised the states of Amazonas, Roraima, Amapa, Para and Maranhao. The Brazilian telecommunications market was divided in 10 areas in 1996 in order to assign licenses for cellular phone services. In each area, the B band was assigned to a private consortium through a competitive bidding and the A band was assigned to the state owned company that provided local fixed phone services in the concession area. Tele Norte Celular, the competitor of NBT, was privatized in August 1998. The area 8, the last of the 10 areas awarded, was granted to the consortium Tele Centro Oeste/Inepar in the third attempt due to the lack of interest of companies in the previous two attempts. There was no minimum price required for the license, but the operator had committed to offer services to regional cities above 200,000 inhabitants within 12 months and for cities of 100,000-200,000 within 24 months. Tele Centro Oeste/Inepar committed to pay US$ 52 million (R$60.55 million) in license fees. Tele Centro Oeste/Inepar paid 40% of its license fees at the signature of the concession contract. The 60% remaining had to be paid in three equal installments during the first three years of the concession contract. Tele Centro Oeste/Inepar was a consortium led by Tele Centro Oeste Participacoes (50%) and Inepar S.A. (50%). In 1999, Tele Centro Oeste Participacoes acquired from Inepar 45% stake in the consortium Tele Centro Oeste/Inepar, increasing its stake to 95% and acquiring corporate control. After the transaction, the consortium Tele Centro Oeste/Inepar had its name changed to Norte Brasil Telecom S.A. (NBT). In April 2003, Telesp Celular Participacoes acquired 61.10% of the voting capital of Tele Centro Oeste Celular Participacoes, including the purchase of NBT, for aproximately US$501.6 million (R$1,505 million). Since the acquisition, NBT has been operating under the brand name "Vivo". As of December 2003, NBT was a wholly owned subsidiary of Tele Centro Oeste Participacoes, which is in turn a subsidiary of Telesp Celular Participacoes. On February 22, 2006, the respective shareholders’ meetings of Telesp Celular Participações SA (TCP), Tele Centro Oeste Celular Participações SA (TCO), Tele Sudeste Celular Participações SA (TSD), Tele Leste Celular Participações, SA (TBE) and Celular CRT Participações SA (CRTPart) approved (i) the merger of TCO in order to convert it into a wholly owned subsidiary of TCP and (ii) the merger of TSD, TBE and CRT Part into TCP. As of March 26, 2006, TCP was the sole surviving company of these mergers and subsequently changed its name to “VIVO Participacoes SA", project #1470. (in order to calculate the real value of the licence fee payments, we used a discount rate of 12.7% aa, which is the rate used by the regulatory agency Anatel) None

Information and communication technology (ICT)

Brazil

High

World Bank Group

Project

Telecommunications, Manufacturing (Industrial), Government