Telefónica will provide wholesale 3G access to NII Holdings’ Nextel subsidiaries in Brazil and Mexico.
The network sharing deal will provide nationwide voice and data coverage services in Brazil and Mexico for Nextel customers.
“The agreement allows both companies to capture the benefits derived from the optimization of infrastructure investment while maintaining the current market structure in both Brazil and Mexico,” said Santiago Fernandez Valbuena, Chairman and CEO of Telefonica Latin America. “It is another example of Telefonica’s effort to optimize resource usage, improve profitability of the businesses and increase financial flexibility.”
“Our new agreements with Telefonica will enhance our service offerings by giving us the ability to provide our 3G customers in Brazil and Mexico with services in more areas in those markets,” said Steve Shindler, NII Holdings’ Chief Executive Officer. “Our access to Telefonica’s networks under these agreements will also allow us to utilize Telefonica’s networks as we continue to expand our own coverage footprint to provide our customers with service that meets their needs.”
Telefónica said the agreements reached with Nextel are in line with its other recent announcements, such as the agreement signed with Millicom to deploy 4G-LTE networks in Colombia, the MVNO deals with Virgin Mobile in Mexico, Chile and Colombia and the agreement with lusacell for reciprocal use of wholesale services in Mexico that started in 2012.
