Brazil: Telefonica going to court over foothold in Brazil

Spain’s largest telecommunications company Telefonica is reportedly expected to go to court with Brazilian regulators after the company lost an appeal of a ruling requiring Telefonica to loosen its grip in the South American nation.

Brazil antitrust regulator CADE ruled last December that Telefonica must find another partner to share ownership of its Vivo unit, or to loosen its grip on Telecom Italia, which controls its own Brazil company TIM.

CADE ruled that Telefonica held too much market control through Vivo and, indirectly, TIM.

CADE rejected Telefonica’s appeal of the decision, reports said last week, upholding the ruling as well as a $6.7 million fine issued because Telefonica broke an agreement to avoid a conflict of interest in the nation.

But Telefonica’s fight is not over. According to reports, the company is expected to go to court with CADE to argue that Telefonica, which holds a stake in Telecom Italia through the vehicle Telco, does not have voting rights in Telecom Italia’s operations and therefore the ownership does not affect competition.

Full content: Total Telecom

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