29 July 1998 represented the turn of the page in PT’s History. This was the event that marked PT’s jump on its course to a multinational presence.
The Telebrás auction, scheduled for 10 AM of Wednesday (29 July) would unleash this jump and would change Portugal Telecom’s course. Instead of going for the operators in Southern Brazil, as was expected, PT decided to go after the crown jewel in Brazilian telecommunications. Telefónica, PT’s partner in international businesses, acquired Telesp Fixa (in which PT also bought a participation).
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The moment of Telesp Celular’s auction |
“King Solomon’s mines”: this is how Sérgio Motta, telecommunications minister at the time, designated the companies of the Telebrás system in 1997. The 12 operators, resulting from the reorganisation of the Telebrás system, served a population of 150 million inhabitants, which represented a very interesting investment for investors. The man in charge would decease without having seen the success of the Telebrás privatisation.
Implementation of a digital network, infrastructure improvement and reduction of the waiting list were the main management goals after Telesp Celular’s acquisition: measures to guarantee the necessary conditions for the company to compete.
The launch of Baby prepay card, led by Romão Mateus (the first PT man in Brazil) was one of the moments that revolutionised the mobile communications market in Brazil.
10 years in the Brazilian market
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1997
Brazilian government approves privatisation of Telebrás |
June 1998
PT buys 19.6% of CRT (Companhia Riograndense
de Telecomunicações) |
July 1998
Auction of Telebrás system. PT buys Telesp Celular and 33% of Telesp Participações |
August 1998
Miguel Horta e Costa chairs Telesp Celular |
November 1998
Telesp Celular is listed in NYSE |
April de 1999
Telesp
launches Baby
pre-pay card |
February 2000
PT buys Zip.net |
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March 2000
PT initiates PTO over Telesp Celular Participações |
24 May 2000
Romão Mateus deceases |
June 2000
Abílio Ançã Henriques becomes chairman |
July 2000
PT and Telefónica agree on exchange of participations |
November 2000
PT buys Ceterp (Ribeirão Preto) |
December 2000
PT buys Unibanco and Bradesco telecommunications networks |
January 2001
Telesp Celular buys Global Telecom |
Born as Telesp, growth as Vivo
Telesp Celular is currently part of Vivo. The entity that became the biggest mobile operator in the Southern Hemisphere is one of the biggest mobile operators in the world.
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Facing one of the most competitive scenarios in the world, the company set up a few priorities such as the development of projects based on the quality of services delivered and on the economy of scale as well as on the segmented treatment of its customer portfolio and segmentation of new users.
In 2008, Vivo celebrated five years of success. "Proud to be Vivo": this was the spirit with which the current chairman, Roberto Lima, opened the videoconference that took place on 11 April, to commemorate the 5th anniversary of the company.
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24 January 2001
PT and Telefónica create ‘joint-venture’ for mobile operations in Brazil |
23 February 2001
UOL and PT agree on integration of Zip.net into UOL portal |
1 April 2001
Carlos Vasconcellos Cruz becomes Telesp’s chairman |
October 2001
Telesp attains 5 million customers |
December 2001
Telesp launches 2,5G in Brazil |
December 2002
Mobitel creates new contact centre company: Dedic |
January 2003
PT and Telefónica buy TCO and expand coverage in Brazil |
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April 2003
Vivo brand is launched |
23 May 2005
Roberto Lima is the first Brazilian chairman |
December 2005
PT and Telefónica announce fusion of all operators to list Vivo in Stock Exchange and join everything in a single entity |
June 2006
Vivo investson GSM network |
November 2006
Company reorganization joining 11 companies is concluded |
June 2007
Vivo buys Telemig and Tele Norte, thus covering entire country |
December 2007
Vivo wins auctions for third generation |
Brazil’s strong men
Since PT’s acquisition of Telesp Celular, now Vivo, six chairmen have led the company.
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Romão Mateus
1998-2000 |
Abílio Ançã Henriques
2000-2001 |
Carlos Vasconcellos
2001-2002 |
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Gilson Rondinellli
2002 |
Francisco Padinha
2002-2005 |
Roberto Lima
current Vivo chairman |