Category: Regions

Colombian telephone operators Empresa de Telecomunicaciones de Bogotá (ETB) and Empresas Públicas de Medellín (EPM), are offering control of local mobile phone operator OLA of which they are majority shareholders. Despite previous assurances that they were looking for a strategic investor to capitalize OLA, the memorandum of understanding makes it clear that control of the company is on the table. Last Friday, both companies pulled out of the bidding process for fixed-line local operator Colombia Telecom saying they were unable to compete with foreign bidders such as Mexico’s Telmex or Spain’s Telefónica.

As Colombian stocks rose on the results of its Congressional elections, stocks in Peru tumbled on news that nationalist Ollanta Humala has closed the gap on front-runner and conservative candidate Lourdes Flores in Peru’s presidential race. A recently published poll puts Humala neck and neck with Flores with 30% of the votes versus 31%, respectively. Humala has said that if voted into office he will impose tighter restrictions on foreign investment in Peru.

Colombia’s President Alvaro Uribe has cemented his position with a majority win by his supporters in Sunday’s Congressional elections. The main pro-Uribe parties won 62% of the seats in the Senate and 56% of the lower house, better than had been forecast by local pundits. The polls on Sunday are widely seen as an indication of how voting will go on May 28, when presidential elections are slated to take place. Uribe, who amended the constitution to allow for it, is standing for a second four-year term as president of Colombia. He has enjoyed the greatest public support of any leader in Colombia’s history, usually polling between 53% and 70% of the vote, largely as a result of a reduction in violence in the country since he took office.

Two local bidders for Colombia’s state-owned fixed-line company, Colombia Telecom, have said they are withdrawing from the process. Empresa de Telecomunicaciones de Bogotá and Empresas Públicas de Medellín (EPM), the largest public services provider in Colombia, said they were unable to make a “serious and reasonable offer” for Colombia Telecom in the face of competition from foreign firms such as Mexico’s Telmex, Telefónica de España and Venezuela’s CANTV. The only local bidder left in the running is cable provider Cablecentro.

Ratings agency Moody’s Investors Service has revised its outlook on the foreign currency credit rating of Colombia from negative to stable. Moody’s currently rates the country’s foreign currency bonds Ba2. Last month, ratings agency Standard & Poor’s raised Colombia’s long-term foreign and local currency credit rating outlook, from stable to positive. The improved outlooks are a product of Colombia’s better growth prospects brought about by greater domestic security and renewed confidence in private investment.