Telefonica expands Brazilian FTTH coverage

Telefonica Brazil (incl Telesp) is looking to extend its fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) coverage in the country, with a particular focus on the Sao Paulo region. The telco, backed by Telefonica of Spain, already has fibre coverage of a potential 400,000 households of which 20,000 are currently signed up to its services. By the end of this year though, Telefonica Brazil is planning to increase coverage to around one million households and boost its FTTH user base to 70,000, with a long term plan to have one million fibre customers before 2015. To facilitate the latest network rollout the Spanish parent is reportedly planning to invest USD126 million in the country. As reported in CommsUpdate earlier this month, unconfirmed sources claim that the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) has signed an ‘untied’ loan agreement with Telesp for its network expansion. Meanwhile, in March this year Telefonica announced it was increasing its capital expenditure outlay in Brazil for the period 2011-2014 by 52% over the previous four-year period to USD14.6 billion to cater for an anticipated surge in demand for telecoms services in the LatAm region’s biggest economy. The sum includes monies to fund possible acquisitions and operating licences, it said in a statement at the time, and eclipses the BRL16 billion it spent in Brazil between 2007 and 2010. Telefonica controls the country’s leading mobile carrier by subscribers, Vivo Participacoes, as well as Telesp.