Vivo (mobile phone network)

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Vivo (Bovespa: [VIVO3] / [VIVO4]; NYSE: [VIV]) is the largest mobile phone service provider in Brazil and in South America with over 30 million users. It originated from the merger of several Brazilian mobile phone operations under a joint-venture owned equally by Portuguese Portugal Telecom and Spanish Telefónica Móviles. Most of its network is IS-95/cdmaOne based, although there are parts of it which are still analog AMPS and parts (resulting from acquisition of other companies) which are TDMA(IS-136) based. The network is being gradually converted to CDMA2000.

The Vivo brand was launched on April 13th 2003.

The following operators merged to form Vivo:

Portugal Telecom-owned

Telesp Celular (São Paulo)
Global Telecom (Paraná, Santa Catarina)

Telefónica-owned

Telefónica Celular (Rio de Janeiro, Espírito Santo, Rio Grande do Sul)
Telebahia Celular (Bahia)
Telergipe Celular (Sergipe)

Acquired by the joint venture

NBT (Amazonas, Roraima, Pará, Amapá, Maranhão)
TCO Celular (Goiás, the Brazilian Federal District, Acre, Tocantins, Mato Grosso, Mato Grosso do Sul)

Until 2006, the group was composed of six holding companies which, as announced in November 2005, merged into a single holding company, Vivo Participações S.A.. The operation was concluded on February 22nd 2006.

External links

	[http://encycl.opentopia.com/ edit ] Brazilian mobile phone companies
Amazônia Celular \| Brasil Telecom GSM \| Claro \| CTBC \| Oi \| Sercomtel Celular \| Telemig Celular \| TIM \| Vivo

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