Vivo S.A.
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| Type | Subsidiary of Telefônica Brasil |
|---|---|
| Industry | Communications Services |
| Founded | (2003) |
| Headquarters | São Paulo, Brazil |
| Key people | Paulo Cesar Teixeira (CEO) |
| Revenue |  US$ 11.5 Billion (2010) |
| Net income | US$ 1.2 Billion (2010) |
| Employees | 8.386 |
| Parent | Telefónica |
| Website | www.vivo.com.br |
Vivo (Portuguese for "alive") is the largest mobile phone service provider in Brazil and in South America with over 60 million users.[1] It originated from the merger of several Brazilian mobile phone operations under a joint-venture owned equally by Portugal Telecom (PT) and Spain's Telefónica; however, Telefónica is now its owner, after having bought PT's shares in July 2010.[2][3]
Most of its network was initially IS-95/cdmaOne based, although there were parts of it that were still analog AMPS and parts (resulting from acquisition of other companies) using TDMA (IS-136). These are all being converted to GSM since 2006, when, after years being the only CDMA network, Vivo announced a GSM network, and that it would operate in both CDMA and GSM.[4] The CDMA network is being gradually converted to CDMA2000 in the major cities, where the company now provides mobile Internet access.
The Vivo brand was launched on April 13, 2003. Until 2006, the group was composed of six holding companies which, as announced in November 2005, merged into a single holding company, Vivo Participações S.A.. The operation was concluded on February 22, 2006.
Vivo also operates an UMTS 3G network.
[edit] Merged companies
The following operators merged to form Vivo:
Portugal Telecom-owned
- Telesp Celular (São Paulo)
- Global Telecom (Paraná, Santa Catarina)
- Norte Brasil Telecom (a.k.a NBT) (Amazonas, Roraima, Pará, Amapá, Maranhão)
Telefónica-owned
- Telefónica Celular (Rio de Janeiro, Espírito Santo, Rio Grande do Sul)
- Telebahia Celular (Bahia)
- Telergipe Celular (Sergipe)
Acquired by the joint venture
- TCO Celular (Goiás, the Brazilian Federal District, Acre, Tocantins, Mato Grosso, Mato Grosso do Sul)
- Telemig Celular (Minas Gerais, rebranded to Vivo on April 13, 2008, Vivo's 5th anniversary)
New operations in the Northeast region
- Vivo S/A (Ceará, Alagoas, Rio Grande do Norte, Pernambuco, Paraíba, Piauí), started at 10/2008, firstly in Ceará and Pernambuco.
[edit] References
- ^ "50 Milhões de brasileiros conectados" (in Portuguese). http://www.vivo.com.br/regiao.php?urlFrom=/portal/home.php. Retrieved 2009-12-21.[dead link]
- ^ Telefônica já comprou Vivo, diz El País (in Portuguese)
- ^ Portugal Tel aprova venda de fatia na Vivo (in Portuguese)
- ^ "O que muda com a ida da Vivo para o GSM" (in Portuguese). http://www.teleco.com.br/comentario/com165.asp. Retrieved 2007-05-18.
[edit] External links
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