TELEFONICA MOVILWS' BUTTERFLY EFFECT

摘要

The merger of U.S. carriers Cin-gular Wireless and AT&T Wireless may seem unconnected to Latin America, but the event is creating a power shift in the region's wireless market. It's akin to one of the tenets of Chaos Theory, which suggests that the flapping of a butterfly's wings creates an amplified disturbance that eventually is felt far away. In February, when Cingular decided to buy AT&T Wireless, BellSouth, one of Cingular's owners, sold its Latin American assets to help raise the cash. It sold its holdings in 10 Latin American countries to Spain's Telefonica Moviles for $5.8 billion. Telefonica Moviles already had substantial operations in eight Latin countries, including a part ownership in Brazil's largest wireless carrier, Vivo. The BellSouth properties gave it six new markets: Colombia, Ecuador, Nicaragua, Panama, Uruguay and Venezuela. BellSouth's other holdings overlap with Telefonica Moviles in Argentina, Chile, Guatemala and Peru. With the purchase Telefonica Moviles added 10.5 million subscribers, giving it 41 million subscribers in Latin America. Mexico-based America Moviles leads the Latin American market with about 44 million subscribers. Between the two operators, they will serve more than two-thirds of Latin America subscribers. Telecom Italia Mobil (TIM) holds the No. 3 spot in Latin America, with 13 percent of the market.