Vivo introduces FTTH franchising model in Brazil

Telefonica’s Brazilian brands Vivo and Terra have launched a franchise model for its fibre rollout plans seemingly to ease the financial demands of the digital economy.

Working with local partners, the initiative will focus on cities with populations between 20,000 and 50,000. The aim will be to add an additional 1 million households to the fibre footprint by 2021, taking the total north of 15 million.

“Population demand is for the internet, and Vivo is the only company in Latin America to invest heavily in a fiber project, promoting a unique experience for its customers,” said Fernando Duschitz, Senior Franchise Manager at Vivo.

“This new business model from Vivo is an opportunity for companies and investors who want to enter this market, as well as for those already acting as providers, to benefit from the strength of the Terra brand, with Telefonica scale, and Vivo quality, as well as of all our experience in expanding fiber, present today in 154 cities across the country.”

Just to paint a bit of context to the situation, Telefonica is a company which is not in the most comfortable position when it comes to debt. While debt had been reduced to €41.785 billion, this is still seemed too steep for investors. Various other strategies have been introduced, such as a new business model for the tower division, though this franchise idea also aids the pursuit of a future-proofed network.

This is the conundrum being faced by Telefonica. The management team does need to reduce debt, though it also needs to find investment for fibre and 5G deployments. Without these investments, rivals would gain the upper hand and potentially erode profits as customers elect for better services. Franchising certain localities in Brazil is a compromise, lessening the financial impact to fuel the mission for future-proofed networks, but weakening control.

Franchisees will be responsible for developing all necessary network infrastructure, as well as managing the operation, including sales, service and installation. On the other side of the deal, Vivo will offer agile processes, managerial and technical training, access to tiered qualified suppliers, unique central call centre, network topology ensuring stability and scalability.

Although not many telcos are facing the same debt challenges as Telefonica, finding cash to fuel network upgrades and deployment is an industry-wide conundrum. Compromises will need to be made, and this is certainly an interesting idea.