Oi announces investment of US$150mn for IPTV trial in Brazil

July 31, 2007 – Brazilian fixed-line operator Oi has announced that it is to invest US$150mn in the launch of an IPTV trial in Rio de Janeiro, scheduled for later in 2007.

The announcement was made by Oi’s CFO Jose Luis Salazar during the presentation of its second quarter results.  Oi has already started the investing the funds in the purchase of a new platform to support the IPTV technology and upgrade the data distribution network, according to Salazar.  “It is not enough to have just a new network and platform. We also have to structure the operational part such as sales,” the executive added.

The US$150mn investment is part of Oi’s forecast capital expenditure for 2007 of R$2.4bn (US$1.27bn).  The operator registered net profits of R$468mn in the second quarter of 2007, up 65.4% from the R$283mn posted in the same period of 2006.