Reuters: Regulatory News: UPDATE 1-Brazil lifts ban on new mobile plan sales

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UPDATE 1-Brazil lifts ban on new mobile plan sales Aug 2nd 2012, 21:32 Thu Aug 2, 2012 5:32pm EDT * Anatel to monitor investments to ensure quality * Carriers commit to invest additional $1.96 bln through 2014 BRASILIA Aug 2 (Reuters) - Brazil's telecoms regulator Anatel o n T hursday lifted a partial ban on new sales of mobile phone plans for three leading carriers, saying they had provided satisfactory investment plans to ensure better service and coverage. The decision benefits TIM Participações, a unit of Telecom Italia, Brazilian carrier Oi and Claro, a unit of Mexico's America Movil. Sales of new plans can resume on Friday, Anatel said. On July 18, Anatel ordered the carriers to stop selling new mobile plans in states where they were providing poor customer service and spotty wireless coverage. TIM, Brazil's No. 2 wireless carrier, was banned from selling plans in 19 states, Oi in five states and Claro in three. Anatel lifted the suspension after the carriers committed to increase investments over the next years by a combined 4 billion reais (US$1.96 billion), bringing total spending plans by the companies in the period to 20 billion reais ($9.8 billion). However, Anatel also said that it would start examining the investments on a quarterly basis to ensure service and coverage are improving, and that the carriers who do not comply will face fines and penalties. "This improvement plan is just a first step. We'll continue to closely monitor the improvements in services and the networks," João Rezende, president of Anatel, said at a news conference in the capital, Brasilia. "We recognize that services aren't going to improve overnight, but in the call centers, it's possible to resolve the problems in the short term," he said, adding that network improvements would take longer, probably four to six months. The Anatel ban, an unusually harsh punishment in a country where regulatory agencies have long been lax, caught the telecoms companies by surprise. The carriers first lashed out at the measure as extreme, but then scrambled to come up with investment plans to resume business as soon as possible. TIM shares rose 3.57 percent on Thursday in anticipation of the announcement. Oi shares ended 0.64 percent lower, falling in line with the benchmark Bovespa index in Sao Paulo. Link this Share this Digg this Email Reprints

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