Reuters: Regulatory News: Brazil, mobile carriers map out end to sales freeze

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Brazil, mobile carriers map out end to sales freeze Jul 24th 2012, 23:24 Tue Jul 24, 2012 7:24pm EDT * TIM shares rise after revised investment plan * Anatel praises TIM investment plan to address complaints * Gov't seeks solution to sales freeze for mobile carriers SAO PAULO, July 24 (Reuters) - Brazilian authorities and the country's second-largest mobile phone carrier gave investors hope on Tuesday that an end was in sight for the government-imposed sanctions against carriers for soaring customer service complaints. Senior vice president for regulatory issues at TIM Brazil , Mario Girasolehe, heartened investors after he pledged the company would double investments on service quality to 451 million reais ($221 million) a year through 2014. TIM shares closed up nearly 5 percent on Tuesday. Communications Minister Paulo Bernardo said President Dilma Rousseff "expressed concern" in finding a solution to the sales-freeze that federal regulator Anatel imposed as punishment for poor quality service on local wireless carriers TIM, Oi and Claro, which is controlled by Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim's America Movil. "Her only clear concern was that we work hard to resolve this," Bernardo told reporters after meeting with the president. "She wants to know how we are going to find an end to this." Bruno Ramos, the head of regulator Anatel, said after meeting with TIM executives on Tuesday that the company presented a revised investment plan to address government concerns over service quality that was "consistent and well worked out." Earlier in the day minister Bernardo said that as soon as the companies presented "consistent plans" for the improvement of services, the sale of new cellular chips would be permitted. Of the three carriers for which the government had frozen the sale of new phones in several states, TIM shares suffered the worst over the past week. Shares fell more than 14 percent since the sanctions were imposed on July 18 until Monday. The government's suspension of new phone sales is one of the toughest pro-consumer measures taken by the Rousseff government. The unprecedented measures caught even the most irate consumer advocates by surprise but they also reinforced investors' growing fears about the government's eagerness to cajole more capital spending out of companies as the local economy struggles. Link this Share this Digg this Email Reprints

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