Orbitel

Cancelled

Orbitel was awarded a 10 year domestic and international long distance telephony services in Colombia in 1998. The company paid US$ 150 million in concession fees. The company was owned by the municipality-owned Empresas Publicas de Medellin (50%), Empresarial Bavaria (25%), Organizacion Luis Sarmiento Angulo (25%). The company started its commercial operations in December 1998. Orbitel signed long distance infrastructure contract with Nortel (Fiber SDH terminals), Ericsson (switching), and Alcatel in the second quarter 1998. The company planned to invest US$ 450 million during its first three years of operations. As of 2003, Orbitel had 37 percent of Colombia's international long distance market. The company contracted with Gilat Colombia SA, a division of Israeli firm Gilat Satellite Networks, to construct and operate Social Telephony Integratred Centers (CITS) in rural areas of Colombia. The Also in 2003, Orbitel launched a spin-off of long distance services in Spain, Orbitel Telecomunicaciones Latinoamericanas, to encourage long distance calls from Spain to Ecuador and Colombia. In 2005, Orbitel was awarded a 3.5 GHz license by the Ministry of Communications. In 2006, Empresas Publicas de Medellin (EPM), run by the municipality, acquired the 50% stake of Grupo Sarmiento Angulo and Valorem (former Valores Bavaria) for US$85 mn. 2005 commit. inv. facilities figure correspond to investments in Property, land and equipment. Since the company was 50% private until acquired in June investment figures of US 17 million were divided in half for 2006.