The Oi saga rumbles on, with good news – potentially – for the cash-starved Brazilian telecommunications company coming from Spain.
Spanish business reporters have suggested that Telefonica has enlisted investment bank JP Morgan to advise it on the potential acquisition of one of the divisions of the financially stricken Brazilian telecommunications group. Unconfirmed reports indicate that the Spanish telecoms giant could be willing to pay close to $5 billion for Oi’s mobile division.
Of course, not long ago we reported that Oi was in discussions with Telefonica, as well as Telecom Italia Group, AT&T and China Mobile, about the planned sale of its mobile unit, so there seems to be genuine interest in the potential of Oi’s mobile assets in Brazil.
It is, however, worth asking what this will mean for the mobile division’s longer-term plans in Brazil, especially given our recent report on Oi’s staging of its latest 5G trial at the recent Rock In Rio music event. That said, given that the sale of its mobile division is widely seen as necessary to help Oi avoid insolvency, the company’s main concern at the moment is more likely to be making that sale happen.
