GSC: Alcatel delays Intelig sale

French telecoms supplier Alcatel (NYSE: ALA) is the obstacle to the sale of Brazilian telecoms operator Intelig, according to Jose Carlos Pereira da Cunha, president of the GSC World Telecom do Brasil holding company. Alcatel is Intelig's single largest creditor, and GSC needs its approval to buy out the ailing telecoms operator, local press reported. GSC is a consortium made up of Intelig's existing managers and a US investment fund. But Alcatel is reported to be pushing for a consortium of incumbent operators Telemar and Brasil Telecom to buy Intelig, which would complement Alcatel's sale of mobile handsets to the two operators. Alcatel Brazil president Jonio Foigel is reported to have stated that he is more interested in having an operator buy Intelig to guarantee payments on its debt. Cunha suggested that this plan would not be good for competition in Brazil, despite the fact that in law the possibility is feasible. In a letter to telecoms regulator Anatel, Cunha said, "Given that Brasil Telecom and Telemar already have a shareholder in common [Brazil's Opportunity], allowing these companies to buy control of Intelig would be simply allowing a return to the old, vertically integrated and monopolistic Telebras System." Meanwhile, when asked about the possibility of the two operators picking up Intelig, rival operator Embratel marketing vice president Purificacion Carpynteiro said "the necessary measures" would be taken to ensure the competition rules laid down in law are not broken - effectively saying the company would seek to block the sale of Intelig to Brasil Telecom and Telemar. "If that happens, we would be eliminating yet another operator, in a market [for fixed line telephony] that already doesn't have many players," Carpynteiro said. Embratel's purchase of Vesper is different, because here, one company is revitalizing an ailing operator that is trying to break into the local market, she said. She called on Anatel to force local incumbents to open up their networks under some unbundling arrangement.