Telefonica’s Brazilian unit on Tuesday confirmed that it will invest at least 25 billion reais (€6.5 billion) in its operations over the next three years.
The telco made the announcement in a filing to the Sao Paulo stock exchange after a news report to that effect appeared in O Estado de Sao Paulo.
Telefonica Brasil said its board of directors estimates that spending will reach BRL8.4 billion this year and BRL8.8 billion in 2016. Investments planned for the three-year period 2015-2017 "shall not be less than BRL25 billion," the company stated.
It added that those figures are provisional and subject to final board approvals. They could be altered due to changes in the business and macroeconomic environment, it said.
The operator did not provide any specifics on the nature of the planned investments.
Telefonica Brasil’s business pri marily comprises mobile operator Vivo and GVT, the fixed broadband operator Telefonica bought from Vivendi earlier this year.
In the first half of this year, Telefonica Brasil recorded capex of BRL3.8 billion, or 18.4% of net operating revenue.
In 2014, capex came in at BRL6.37 billion excluding spending on spectrum licences (or BRL9.14 billion in total), which was 18.2% of revenue and 14.2% higher than in 2013. The telco said the increased spend formed part of a plan to expand its fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) footprint and increase 3G and 4G network quality and coverage.
