Other than that, the company also plans to begin offering pay-TV services this year in Sao Paulo. The 2011 investment plan represents a 23% increase from GVT’s 1.4 billion reals spent last year.  In the statement announcing the investment plans, GVT noted that its revenue likely grew by 40% in 2010. Margins on earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization likely reached 40%. The company said it will announce official figures for 2010 when parent company Vivendi reports earnings on March 1.

GVT is a privately held fixed telecommunications carrier operating in the southern, mid-western and part of the northern regions of Brazil. It offers internet and data transmission services as well as national and international long distance services for residential, corporate, small and medium-size businesses.

In São Paulo the company is focused exclusively on the corporate market. GVT operates a next generation network (NGN) that allows for complete integration in voice, data and image transmission. In November 2009, GVT was acquired by French media and telecom company Vivendi.

GVT Holding SA is engaged in the provision of telecommunications services, information, voice transmission, broadband internet, media and other related or complementary activities. It operates in most Brazilian states, providing services to both residential and corporate segments using its own brands GVT, POP and VONO.

Brazilian telecommunications regulator Anatel Last week recommended approval of Vivendi SA’s takeover of GVT Holding, which still has to be cleared by antitrust regulators. Anatel had previously cleared the way for the purchase of GVT, approving a takeover of the company by Vivendi or rival Telefonica SA (TEF), which at the time was making a bid for the Brazilian operator of broadband and fixed-line telephone networks.

The analysis of the purchase by Vivendi now goes to Cade, Brazil’s antitrust regulator. The final approval may take some time, as the acquisition of Brasil Telecom by Tele Norte Leste Participacoes (TNE), or Oi, was approved only in October, two years after Oi acquired control of its rival.

Portugal Telecom expects the signing of these agreements to enable it benefit from scale and geographic diversification in high-growth markets.

In its release, the Portuguese firm noted that it firmly believes that it will be able to leverage its successful experience in developing innovative and technologically advanced solutions for corporate customers, fixed-to-mobile convergence, mobile broadband, pay-TV and triple-play to contribute significantly to improve further Oi’s operational and financial performance, considering its strong presence in the Brazilian market and the potential for future growth.

The transaction is for a cash disbursement of R$ 8.32 billion and significant corporate governance rights to be attributed to PT, resulting in the proportional consolidation of its direct and indirect stake in TmarPart (25.6%).

According to the TmarPart shareholders agreement, PT will have same rights as the remaining partners at TmarPart level, which include a right of first refusal and a right to purchase TmarPart Shares in the event of a change of control at AG/LF. PT has also granted reciprocal rights, which include a right of first refusal on its sale of shares as well as a call in the event of a change of control of PT.

This partial acquisition sees the Portuguese telecoms provider return to the fast-growing Brazilian market after it sold its share in the largest mobile phone company in Brazil, Vivo for over US$10 billion to Spain’s Telefonica. The deal involves a capital increase of up to 12 billion reais in the Oi units TNL and TMAR, with Portugal Telecom yet to decide on the size of stake it will take in these two units.

The former equal partner of Portugal Telecom, Vivo, is currently the market leader in the Brazilian mobile marketplace with a 29% share of the industry, while Oi currently has 19%. The country is a key market for both Portugal Telecom and Telefonica because of declining revenues in the mature Portuguese and Spanish telecommunications markets respectively, and also due to the lingering impact of the economic recession. The Oi transaction is expected to close up to the end of March 2011.

DirecTV’s purchase of 178.8 million shares from Globo and its affiliates pushes its ownership stake to 93% from 74% and cuts Globo’s share to 7% from 26%. Unlike regionally based cable providers, DirecTV has benefited from higher activity in its Latin America business, though it soon will face more competition in the area. Brazilian regulators recently removed barriers to enter the pay-TV business and the country’s largest landline phone company Tele Norte Leste Participacoes SA (TNLP4.BR, TNE), also known as Oi, has unveiled plans to launch an Internet-based TV service.

DirecTV added 380,000 net new customers in the third quarter, with most of the growth coming in Latin America. That segment accounted for 15% of its revenue in the period. The middle class in several of its regions, including Brazil, is growing, Bruce Churchill, president of the company’s Latin American arm, said recently, with Brazil’s market expected to double.

Globo had notified DirecTV in June that it intended to exercise its rights under a 2004 exchange agreement among SKY Brasil’s then equity holders. The company has three more years to exchange the remaining 7% stake in SKY Brazil. Shares were down 10 cents at $39.55 in recent trading.

The DirecTV Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: DTV) is an American direct broadcast satellite television company formerly known as Hughes Electronics. Hughes Electronics was formed in 1985 when Hughes Aircraft was sold by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute to GM for $ 5.2 billion. General Motors merged Hughes Aircraft with its Delco Electronics unit to form Hughes Electronics.

The group then consisted of: Delco Electronics Corporation, Hughes Aircraft Company, and Hughes Space & Communications Company. Hughes Electronics founded DirecTV. Hughes Electronics and PanAmSat agreed to merge their fixed satellite services into a new publicly held company, also called PanAmSat with Hughes Electronics as majority shareholder. GM transferred Delco Electronics to its Delphi Automotive Systems business.

The aerospace and defense operations of Hughes Electronics (Hughes Aircraft) were merged with Raytheon. The remaining companies remained under the Hughes Electronics name and within GM.

The announcement stated that Briza Technologies Inc. which is being acquired by TimeMarker, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of PrimeHoldings.com, completed the acquisition of IT-Bibow INFO Ltd., a Brazilian information technology services company.

Briza Technologies is a Hillsborough, New Jersey based corporation whose primary business is the designing, manufacturing and marketing of wireless credit card payment solutions and Internet security devices. PrimeHoldings chief executive officer Thomas Aliprandi noted that with IT-Bibow as a wholly owned subsidiary of Briza Technologies, Briza is now commercially operational and ready to do business in Brazil.

Because IT-Bibow ’s senior professional and technical executives remain in their current positions, post acquisition, Briza will be able finalize negotiations and sign several significant revenue-generating agreements with strategic partners in Brazil that PrimeHoldings has been working on for the past several weeks, said Aliprandi. He further added that the investment will allow PrimeHodings to roll out Briza’s and IT-Bibow’s proprietary products in Brazil expeditiously.

Briza’s proprietary technology easily lends itself to a myriad of consumer product and service applications.  That is why the Brazilian Government-owned Federal University of Santa Catarina wants to join with Briza to develop our products and apply them to these diverse and specific markets, he said.

PrimeHoldings.com is a technology-oriented holding company that seeks to introduce and bring to market new e-commerce applications and business solutions. Its subsidiary, TimeMarker, Inc. is one of the first to market with a scalable internet exchange platform utilizing two-way wireless devices (e.g., pagers, PDA’s, Web phones) to provide consumers and service providers with an efficient, market based clearing mechanism for location-sensitive, time-perishable goods and Services.

TimeMarker’s technology is applicable in any vertical industry with perishable goods or services, high fixed costs, excess capacity, and hundreds or thousands of service providers spread across wide geographic regions include trucking, food services, and fleet management.

On the other hand, Briza Technologies, Inc. is a private corporation that creates and manufactures wireless credit card payment solutions and Internet security devices. Briza Technologies applies environmentally friendly technologies, or, if not available, invents such technologies, to solve real and practical problems in the credit card billing and Internet securities industries.

The deal for the stake acquisition was first entered back in July, when Portuguese Telecom agreed to remit around $5 billion for an undisclosed stakes in the Brazilian firm. However, Tele Norte Leste Participacoes has to set off its debts with the Brazilian government for the deal to go through. The company owes $44 million related to the Telecommunications Fiscalization Fund, or Fistel.

Tele Norte Leste Participacoes or Oi is hopes the new partnership will allow both companies to gain a presence in Brazil, the largest phone market in the Americas after the US and to expand overseas. Oi is also planning a $7 billion share issue to raise fresh capital. But even so, the approval is only preliminary but it paves the way for the Portuguese firm to go ahead with its investment plans, the purchase of $5 billion worth of shares in the Brazilian phone carrier.

Anatel, Brazil’s telecommunications industry regulator, said the purchase can go forward after 74 million reais ($43.7 million) are paid in overdue debt owed to the Fistel fund that helps pay for the oversight of the industry. During a press conference briefing on the deal, Joao Rezende, an Anatel counselor said the deal creates no cross shareholdings, has no conflicting (phone) licenses thus carries no potential hurdles from the operational point of view.

Zeinal Bava, Portugal Telecom Chief Executive Officer has repeatedly said Brazil is the lifeblood of the company and offers the best platform for growth. Tele Norte Leste Participacoes SA is Brazil’s biggest phone company. Portugal Telecom SGPS SA is based in Lisbon and is seeks to maintain a foothold in Latin America’s largest economy via investments.

The Portuguese firm is keen on maintaining a presence in Brazil, a market the Portuguese government considers crucial. Speculation had been rife back in June and July over a potential move for the Oi stake.

The deal dates back two years ago, when Oi acquired control of rival telecom operator Brasil Telecom as early as 2008 in a deal that was worth 10 billion Brazilian reais, about US$5.91 billion. However, the full integration of the two has yet to be completed. Tele Norte Leste Participacoes or Oi is the largest local phone company in Brazil.

Rio de Janeiro-based Oi, Brazil’s largest fixed-lined carrier suspended the swap investment plan, part of its 2008 takeover offer for Brasil Telecom, on Jan. 15 after unveiling unexpected lawsuit losses at Brasil Telecom. However, new swap ratios were later revealed, igniting concern that holders of Brasil Telecom common shares could be hurt more than holders of its preferred stock.

The acquisition has thus been protracted, amidst such challenges for the last two years and its conclusion comes as a relief to Oi. The new swap offer had been feared to ignite fresh concerns amongst shareholders as Oi sought to conclude the deal. However, the firm did get approval from shareholders finally.

Over the past one year, Brasil Telecom’s preferred shares have dropped 71 per cent and its common shares have fallen 12 per cent, compared with a rise of about 70 per cent in the benchmark Bovespa stock index in Sao Paulo.

Oi will offer 0.3955 common shares of Telemar for each common share of Brasil Telecom, down 10 percent from 0.4388, the firm’s filing said.

Brasil Telecom S.A. is a major Brazilian telecommunications company headquartered in the Brazilian capital Brasilia. The company is one of three land lines, one long distance and eight mobile telephone companies in Brazil that emerged from the break-up of Telebrás.

Originally the company was called Tele Centro Sul, because its service covered the states in the central and southern parts of Brasil, such as Acre, Rondônia, Goiás, Tocantins, Mato Grosso, Mato Grosso do Sul, Paraná, Santa Catarina and Rio Grande do Sul, as well as the Distrito Federal. The firm has been a subsidiary of Oi since January 9th, 2009.

That subsequently reflects a spending of 3.3 billion reals in the tender offer according to a filling to the Sao Paolo Stock Exchange. The Mexican billionaire is keen on expanding his business empire to create a colossus telecoms firm that can maximize on fixed line, wireless, and cyberspace and TV services in Brazil. The move is also reflective of Slim’s measure to counter the influence of Spain’s Telefonica in Latin America.

The investment was encouraged by Slim’s Telmex and America Movil that are keen on joining forces to offer a more robust and reinforced firm to counter rivals such as Telefonica in Latin America. Net Servicos shares were up 4.3 percent to 22.9 reais in late afternoon trading Thursday last week as the announcement was made compared with a 0.9 percent decline in the benchmark Bovespa index.

Embratel remitted about $2 billion on Thursday for most of the outstanding shares in cable operator Net Servicos. The move reflects Slim’s wish to create a giant telecom company that could offer fixed-line, wireless, and Internet and TV services in Brazil under a single umbrella. Embratel currently owns about 35% of Net’s total capital, including preferred and voting stock.

The acquisition is part of America Movil’s plans to provide full telecommunications services in the Brazilian market, alongside Embratel’s long distance and corporate services, and mobile telephone operator Claro.

Brazilian law prevents foreign companies from owning Brazilian pay TV companies, so Globo Comunicacao e Participacoes SA will remain Net’s controlling shareholder through its ownership of voting stock. Embratel has an agreement with Globo to take control of Net should the legislation be changed.

NET Serviços is Latin America’s largest multi-service cable company, offering pay TV, broadband internet access and voice services through a single cable. With a 48% share of the pay TV market and a 25% share of the broadband segment, NET Serviços’ network provides services to more than 11.1 million homes in 93 cities, including São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Belo Horizonte, Porto Alegre, Curitiba, Florianópolis, Manaus, Brasília and Goiânia.

According to analysts, the Brazilian telecoms market has gotten tougher to survive for new companies seeking telecoms investment into the country. Even though it is the biggest telecoms market in Latin America, and thus lucrative; foreign firms undertaking new investments in the sector have encountered tough challenges.

Vodafone, based in the UK, has been the subject of mounting speculation over a potential stake purchase in the Brazilian mobile operator, TIM Brasil. Speculation has it that Vodafone was keen on securing a majority stake in TIM Brasil, Telecom Italia’s Brazilian unit. Brazil is a crucial market for global telecoms players given its huge population of mobile users.

The country has four wireless carriers and about 80% of its 190 million people are mobile phone users. The speculated Vodafone bid follows the isolation of TIM Brasil, Brazil’s third biggest mobile phone operator, due to the takeover of Vivo by Telefonica from Spain. Previously, Vivo was the telecoms market leader in Brazil. Other than the Vivo purchase, TIM Brasil has also found itself isolated due to the acquisition of a stake in Oi by Portugal Telecom, after the Portuguese telecoms firm sold its 50% stake in Vivo to Spain’s Telefonica.

These arguments were raised by Eduardo Falco, Oi chief executive, adding that, for Vodafone to enter the Brazil telecoms market, it will need more than the help of the Italian firm, TIM Brasil. That arises from the fact that the two firms, Vodafone and Telecom Italia, and others in the Brazilian market are fierce competitors thus it may not be that easy to make a breakthrough in the Brazilian telecoms industry, he said.

The telecoms sector in Brazil is one of the most dynamic in the country’s rapidly growing economy over the last one year. The past one year has witnessed major takeovers, with major players buying out their small rivals in a bid to expand their portfolios.

Vodafone Group Plc is the world’s leading mobile telecommunications company, with a significant presence in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia Pacific and the United States through the Company’s subsidiary undertakings, joint ventures, associated undertakings and investments.

The Mexican company, America Movil is owned by Mexican billionaire and the world’s second richest man, Carlos Slim and according to analysts; the move is in line with the billionaire’s quest to consolidate his telecommunications empire in the Latin America continent. In the deal, Embratel will remit 23 reals per preferred share of Net Servicos; said a statement sent to the regulators in a filling.

Embratel was formerly owned by the Brazilian government that later disposed it off in a sale. Headquartered in Rio de Janeiro, the company said the transaction would potentially earn it the 4.58 billion reals if all shareholders of Net Servicos approve the offer in a voting. With the announcement, Net Servicos shares went up by 2.5% to close at an impressive 19.99 reals.

Net Servicos shares have been on the decline this year, dropping by about 16.7% when compared to a 0.5% drop in the benchmark BOVESPA index. Currently, Carlos Slim’s company, America Movil controls 98% of Embratel’s stock via its unit, Telmex. On the other hand, Embratel owns about 37.9% of Net Servicos voting share and about 21.2% of the preferred stock and is keen on full takeover with this bid.

Embratel Participações S.A begun in 1998 as one of the holding companies resulting from the breakup of the Telebrás System. It controls Empresa Brasileira de Telecomunicações S.A., the premium telecommunications carrier in Brazil that offers a wide range of advanced telecommunications services over its state-of-the-art network.

Globo Participacoes, the Brazilian media giant owns around 60% of Net Servicos’ voting stock and less than 1% of its preferred shares. On the other hand, BlackRock and Cyrte Investments are funds that own around 85% of Net Servicos’ preferred stock. Slim’s Telmex and America Movil, both based in Mexico City, are currently joining forces to create a powerhouse better-placed to take on rivals like Spain’s Telefonica.

AG2 is a Brazilian firm located in the Porto Alegre state but has offices in Sa Paolo and Pelotas and employs about 170 communications specialists currently. Ever since it was begun in 1999, AG2 has over time curved out a place in the Brazilian interactive experiences market, ascertaining itself as leader in the sector. The company’s main areas of business is competitive intelligence, a business that has greatly bolstered its other two businesses namely brand management and interactive experiences.

AG2’s most important customers in Brazil include major firms such as Bradesco, a major player in the banking industry, General Motors, Embraer and the Bunge Group. Commenting over the acquisition, Publicis said its acquisition of AG2 is in line with its sustained commitment to undertaking investments in digital and high growth market areas that will help in its expansion plans. As such, the Brazilian firm comes as the latest of its planned acquisitions and additions to its Publicis Modem digital unit.

Currently, Publicis Modem employs about 1,400 individuals with 40 global operations offices. Publicis Groupe ranks third globally in communications groups and the second in media counsel and buying. On the other hand, it is the biggest global network in digital and healthcare communications.

Brazil’s on its own is one of the fastest growing advertising markets in the world currently with a steady expansion experienced in the period to 2008. However, the online advertising market in Brazil performed impressively over the same period by about 40%. Publicis Groupe is a French multinational advertising and communications company. It is one of the big three global advertising holding companies (the others being Omnicom, and WPP).

Publicis Groupe S.A. provides traditional advertising, media services, and specialized agencies and marketing services (SAMS) to national and multinational clients. Its traditional advertising services principally involve the creation of advertising for products, services, and brands. Its recent acquisitions are symbolic of its burgeoning global presence and expanding business.