Grupo Oi SA, Brazil's most indebted telecom company, backed out of a key auction for fourth-generation (4G) cell spectrum on Tuesday, adding to speculation of an upcoming takeover in a highly competitive wireless market.Any Brazilian wireless carrier left out of the auction this month will likely face merger pressure from other players, the superintendent of competition at telecom regulator Anatel told Reuters in July.Speculation has swirled this year over possible mergers in Brazil's cooling telecom market, where stiff competition and expensive investments in new technology are hurting profit."Oi is positioning itself for a consolidation of the market. That is going to happen and this decision is clearly related," said an industry source who asked not to be named because of the strategic sensitivity of the issue.
Oi SA, formerly Brasil Telecom SA, is a Brazil-based holding company engaged in the provision of Switched Fixed-line Telephony Services (STFC) domestically and internationally. Shares of OIBR traded higher by 0.24% or $0.0017/share to $0.71. In the past year, the shares have traded as low as $0.51 and as high as $2.34. On average, 16904700 shares of OIBR exchange hands on a given day and today's volume is recorded at 1181858.
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