Gerardo Aguirre, Telcel?s sub-director of radiofrequencies and quality of service, is moving to Rio de Janeiro this month to take charge of managing GSM overlay and network buildout in the new areas into which Telecom Americas is expanding in Brazil. Telcel is a Mexican subsidiary of America Movil, which also controls Telecom Americas. Telcel launched its own GSM operation in October 2002 using the 1900 MHz band but continues to operate TDMA at 800 MHz, with 19.4 million users.
Suppliers
Telecom Americas aims to conclude selection of equipment vendors for both the overlay and new GSM networks in the coming weeks. Alcatel, Ericsson, Motorola, Nokia, Nortel and Siemens have submitted proposals. Management expects to choose more than one supplier. GSM buildout will be divided up by region. This is what Telemar?s Oi and TIM Brazil have done as well.
