Telefonica Announces $14.6 Billion 4-Year Brazil Investments

Spanish telecommunications giant Telefonica SA (TEF, TEF.MC) Wednesday announced a four-year investment plan for its Brazilian operations worth $14.6 billion, 52% larger than in the previous four-year cycle.

Grupo Telefonica global President Cesar Alierta said the company will invest 24.3 billion Brazilian reais ($14.6 billion) during the period 2011 through 2014.

Telefonica's main Brazilian properties are Telesp SA (TLPP4.BR), the telephone company serving portions of Brazil's biggest and wealthiest state of Sao Paulo, and mobile phone provider Vivo (VIV, VIVO4.BR).

Telefonica announced the investment plan following a meeting in Brasilia between Alierta and Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff.

Telefonica said investments will be aimed at modernization and expansion of the company's telephone products as well as broadband Internet and cable television services. The company said investments will include acquisition of new operating licenses in different parts of the country.

Telefonica has operated in Brazil since the 1998 privatization of telephone services. From 1998-2010, the company invested BRL57.4 billion.

--By Tom Murphy, Dow Jones Newswires; 55-11-3544-7090; [e-mail]