Telemar, Brasil Telecom, Telefonica bid for Embratel

Brazil's three local telephony operators Telemar, Brasil Telecom and Telefonica have made a bid to acquire the country's long distance incumbent Embratel, a Telemar spokesperson confirmed to BNamericas. The three operators turned in the bid Thursday to Embratel's controlling shareholder MCI of the US, which announced it wants to shed itself of the asset last month. An MCI spokesperson could not confirm the information. Other interested bidders, according to local press, are Portugal Telecom and Mexico's Telmex, in addition to Embratel's employees pension fund Telos in partnership with Embratel executives, whose bid was announced officially this week. Local regulations forbid any incumbent from acquiring control of another incumbent, but some local analysts believe the law can be circumvented. Brazil's communications minister Miro Teixeira has said he is against the three buying Embratel arguing it could lead to a long distance monopoly.