Americatel acquires Diveo division

Peruvian telecoms operator Americatel has acquired corporate services provider Diveo Peru, Americatel said in a statement, without disclosing the value of the purchase. Americatel Peru paid for the company out of its own resources, Americatel institutional relations manager Juan Francisco Boggio told BNamericas. Americatel is a division of Telecom Italia (NYSE: TI) subsidiary Entel Chile. Diveo's network in Lima will provide basic telephony, data services and broadband Internet, and can be integrated immediately with Americatel's existing operations, Boggio said. Americatel inherits Diveo Peru's 60 corporate clients, and plans to continue to focus on this niche, although it is testing wireless local loop products with a view to launching local residential service in 2004, he said. Americatel staff will meet Friday to discuss growth projections for data and basic telephony traffic, he said, adding the company has a long distance market share of about 35%, which it aims to maintain in 2004, and expects to end 2003 with a profit.