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In an auction organized by the Court of Justice of Rio de Janeiro (TJ-RJ) this Monday (14), a consortium formed by the operators Vivo, Claro and TIM bought, for R $ 16.5 billion, the telephone operations mobile. by Oi.
With multibillion-dollar debt and in legal recovery since 2016, Oi has been auctioning its main sectors since 2019. The mobile sector, responsible for internet and mobile phone chips, will now be divided between rivals, who competed in an auction with no competitors.
The consortium’s victory was not a surprise. Another possible candidate, Highline do Brasil, even submitted a proposal before the auction, but the amount presented would have been exceeded by the trio of operators.
However, the sale must still take time to materialize, as it must pass the approval of the National Telecommunications Agency (Anatel) and the Administrative Council for Economic Defense (Cade). Oi expects this to happen only in late 2021. Until then, nothing changes for those who are customers of the operator.
According to sources close to the deal, Oi’s Internet and mobile phone users will continue with their plans as normal. After approval by the authorities, Oi will start communicating with its clients and their account will go to one of the operators involved in the operation.
With its 36.5 million cell lines, Oi is responsible for 15.9% of the Brazilian mobile market, behind yes TEAM (22.3%), Claro (26.6%) and Vivo (33.6%). Oi customers will be distributed among the new owners as follows:
- Tim will have 14.5 million accounts, which corresponds to 40% of the total;
- Vivo will have 10.5 million, 29% of the total;
- Claro will have 11.5 million accounts, 32% of the total.
The value offered by the trio of operators exceeds R $ 1.5 billion at Oi’s request in the disclosure of its strategic restructuring plan in 2019. The company valued its mobile telephony and internet operation at R $ 15 billion. The account was also divided proportionally between the operators who took more or less clients:
- Tim will pay R $ 7.3 billion, or 44% of the total amount;
- Vivo will pay R $ 5.5 billion, 33% of the total;
- And Claro will pay R $ 3.7 billion, corresponding to 20%.
In addition, the operators will join to pay the cost of the transition, which should be around R $ 756 million. However, it is not yet known how this transition will take place in detail, but it should only start after Cade and Anatel have approved the deal.
For market analysts heard by InclinationHowever, the end of one competitor and the concentration of power in the hands of three operators does not raise fears of the formation of an oligopoly. “The division will be made in a millimeter way, in order to avoid the creation of dominant positions and privilege rivalry and competition between telecommunications companies. The consumer will win, ”said a source close to the matter.
“Market consolidation is a natural path in this field, but the interesting thing is the possibility of sharing networks, which is a trend that we will reach the level of having networks totally controlled by software”, said Luciano Saboia, research and consulting manager of telecommunications at IDC Brazil.
For him, this move can bring benefits to the consumer. “Today there is a commodification as companies offer similar services. With the shared network, companies can rely on SLA [Acordo de Nível de Serviço]. So there may be contracts, for example, that offer more bandwidth, higher availability and less latency. “
Without mobile telephony or towers and data centers, sold in other auctions since last year, what remains of Oi should now focus on fiber-optic residential internet. The pay TV sector is also expected to be auctioned in 2021.
* Guilherme Tagiaroli collaborated
