October
27, 2004
Telefónica buys the biggest mobile
phone company in Venezuela
(The Miami Herald) - "The
National Telecommunications Commission
(Conatel) approved the buying of Telcel
(the biggest mobile phone company in Venezuela)
by the Spanish corporation Telefónica.
The authorization of Conatel
allows Telefónica to take over
administrative and financial control
of Telcel (…)
Last march, Telefónica
cancelled $1.300 million in order to
acquire the share majority of the Venezuelan
company (…)
In Venezuela, there are
three operating mobile phone companies:
Telcel; Movilnet, which belongs to the
National Telephone Company CANTV and
Digitel, which is controlled by the
Italian group Telecom Italia Mobile
TIM.
CANTV is managed by the
international corporation Verizon Communications
Inc. which has a total participation
of 28,5%, Telefónica has 6,9%
of the shares, the government has 6,5%,
and the workers own 11,7 of the company's
shares.
For nine years, the owners
of CANTV monopolized the telephone service
in Venezuela, after the company was
privatized in 1991.
Since 2000, CANTV
competes with other 15 national and
foreign companies for the telephone
service market in Venezuela".
