Brasil Telecom S.A. (BrT, ) was a major

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

ian

telecommunications Telecommunication is the transmission of information by various types of technologies over wire, radio, optical, or other electromagnetic systems. It has its origin in the desire of humans for communication over a distance greater than that ...

company headquartered in the Brazilian capital of Brasilia. The company was one of three land lines and eight mobile telephone companies – and only long-distance service provider – that emerged in Brazil following the break-up of

Telebrás Telebras is a Brazilian telecommunications company which was the state-owned monopoly telephone system. It was broken up in July 1998 into twelve separate companies, nicknamed the 'Baby Bras' companies, that were auctioned to private bidders. The ...

. Originally the company was called Tele Centro Sul, because its service covered the states in the central and southern parts of Brazil, namely

Acre The acre is a unit of land area used in the imperial and US customary systems. It is traditionally defined as the area of one chain by one furlong (66 by 660 feet), which is exactly equal to 10 square chains, of a square mile, 4,840 square ...

Rondônia Rondônia () is one of the 26 states of Brazil, located in the northern subdivision of the country (central-western part). To the west is a short border with the state of Acre, to the north is the state of Amazonas, in the east is Mato Grosso ...

Goiás Goiás () is a Brazilian state located in the Center-West region. Goiás borders the Federal District and the states of (from north clockwise) Tocantins, Bahia, Minas Gerais, Mato Grosso do Sul and Mato Grosso. The state capital is Goiâ ...

Tocantins Tocantins () is one of the 26 states of Brazil. It is the newest state, formed in 1988 and encompassing what had formerly been the northern two-fifths of the state of Goiás. Tocantins covers and had an estimated population of 1,496,880 in 20 ...

Mato Grosso Mato Grosso ( – lit. "Thick Bush") is one of the states of Brazil, the third largest by area, located in the Central-West region. The state has 1.66% of the Brazilian population and is responsible for 1.9% of the Brazilian GDP. Neighboring ...

Mato Grosso do Sul Mato Grosso do Sul () is one of the Midwestern states of Brazil. Neighboring Brazilian states are (from north clockwise) Mato Grosso, Goiás, Minas Gerais, São Paulo and Paraná. It also borders the countries of Paraguay, to the southwest, and ...

, Paraná, Santa Catarina and

Rio Grande do Sul Rio Grande do Sul (, , ; "Great River of the South") is a state in the southern region of Brazil. It is the fifth-most-populous state and the ninth largest by area. Located in the southernmost part of the country, Rio Grande do Sul is border ...

, as well as the Distrito Federal. Since 9 January 2009, the company is a

subsidiary A subsidiary, subsidiary company or daughter company is a company owned or controlled by another company, which is called the parent company or holding company. Two or more subsidiaries that either belong to the same parent company or having a ...

of Oi.

History

The Brazilian investment bank

Opportunity Opportunity may refer to: Places * Opportunity, Montana, an unincorporated community, United States * Opportunity, Nebraska, an unincorporated community, United States * Opportunity, Washington, a former census-designated place, United States * ...

, which managed funds for investors including

Citigroup Citigroup Inc. or Citi ( stylized as citi) is an American multinational investment bank and financial services corporation headquartered in New York City. The company was formed by the merger of banking giant Citicorp and financial conglomera ...

and some Brazilian pension funds, in partnership with

Telecom Italia Gruppo TIM, legally TIM S.p.A. (formerly Telecom Italia S.p.A.), also known as the TIM Group in English, is an Italian telecommunications company with headquarters in Rome, Milan, and Naples, (with the Telecom Italia Tower) which provides fixed ...

, paid 2.07 billion reais in June 1998 to buy Tele Centro Sul from the Brazilian government as part of the privatization process of Telebrás. In 2001, the company purchased small stake in the iBest Co. website and launched a portal and free internet access service; at the time, the Marcos Wettreich was the main shareholder in iBest. After some legal wrangling,

and the Brazilian pension funds took control of the company, removing Opportunity from the management of their respective funds and took control of the company in 2005. BrT started up a wireless service in 2004. Brasil Telecom's stock was traded on

BM&F Bovespa B3 S.A. - Brasil, Bolsa, Balcão (in English, ''B3 - Brazil Stock Exchange and Over-the-Counter Market''), formerly BM&FBOVESPA, is a stock exchange located in São Paulo, Brazil, and the second oldest of the country. Its current form can be tra ...

, where it is part of the Ibovespa index, as well as on the

New York Stock Exchange The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE, nicknamed "The Big Board") is an American stock exchange in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is by far the world's largest stock exchange by market capitalization of its liste ...

. In 2008, it was announced that Brasil Telecom would be acquired by Oi.Brasil Telecom
/ref> That transaction required changes in legislation, since legislation at the time prohibited a fixed telephone company from purchasing another fixed telephone company in a different license area. That legislation has since changed, and Oi completed its purchase of BrT on January 9, 2009.

Legal issues

Brasil Telecom, the country's third largest fixed-line operator, and Opportunity, which controlled Brasil Telecom, hired

Kroll Kroll is a German language, German, Anglo-Saxons, Anglo-Saxon, and Scottish people, Scottish surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Colin Kroll (1983/4–2018), American businessman; co-founder of Vine and HQ Trivia * Eric Kroll (bo ...

to determine whether

competed with Brasil Telecom in 2000 in the latter's acquisition of the Brazilian fixed-line phone company Companhia Riograndense de Telecomunicoes ('CRT') from Spain's

Telefónica Telefónica, S.A. () is a Spanish multinational telecommunications company headquartered in Madrid, Spain. It is one of the largest telephone operators and mobile network providers in the world. It provides fixed and mobile telephony, broadba ...

with the purpose of increasing the final price paid by Brasil Telecom for CRT, as both Opportunity and

were struggling for the control of Brasil Telecom. Brasil Telecom and

have been locked in court struggles since 2000. Kroll was accused of spying on Brazilian government officials. Additionally, Opportunity also became involved in legal disputes with the investors in its managed funds, namely some Brazilian pension funds and

, which culminated in Opportunity's removal as the manager of these funds and, ultimately, Opportunity's losing the control of Brasil Telecom (along with other companies controlled by the funds, namely

Telemig Celular Vivo Minas (formerly known as Telemig Celular) was a regional Brazilian telecommunications company headquartered in Belo Horizonte. The company used to be one of eight wireless telephone companies that emerged from the break-up of Brazil's gover ...

, Amazonia Celular, Santos Brasil, and Opportrans/Rio de Janeiro's subway operator).

References

External links

The company's home page

The company's web page in English
(down) {{Authority control Companies formerly listed on the New York Stock Exchange Telecommunications companies of Brazil 1998 establishments in Brazil Companies based in Brasília Defunct companies of Brazil Telecommunications companies established in 1998 Companies listed on B3 (stock exchange)

History

Legal issues

See also

References

External links