Vivo not for sale

Portugal Telecom CEO, Henrique Granadeiro, is reported to have told Portuguese daily newspaper Diario Economico that PT is not willing to sell its Brazilian mobile operation Vivo to Spain’s Telefonica.

Today’s announcement follows a story that broke yesterday that suggested Telefonica had tabled a Euro3bn bid in conjunction with an August deadline for decision.

A Telefonica spokesperson told telecoms.com that it was no secret the telco coveted Vivo, but said no such bid had been made.

If the Portuguese newspaper reports are to be believed Telefonica’s continued interest in Vivo is fairly academic.

“Is it likely that Portugal will sell to Telefonica?” asked Carrie Pawsey, senior analyst and service manager at Ovum, in a statement late yesterday. “Vivo is important to the Portuguese operator … Despite the fact that connections actually dropped year-on-year, revenues from Q107 were up 4.4 per cent against a domestic mobile increase of 1.9 per cent and a decline of six per cent for the Portuguese fixed line business. Portugal has some minority assets in Africa and Asia, but it’s difficult to see where significant revenue growth would come from should it sell Vivo,” she said.