Telecommunications - Regional - Yahoo! sees opportunities for oneSearch tool in Mexico, Brazil and Argentina

Yahoo! (Nasdaq: YHOO) sees the largest growth opportunities for its oneSearch mobile search engine in Brazil, Mexico and Argentina, Martin Piombo, VP and general manager for Latin America of Yahoo!'s Connected Life division told BNamericas.

"Notably, these are three of the top 10 countries where Yahoo! sees the most oneSearch traffic from on a global basis," the executive said.

"The entire Latin American region is a huge opportunity for Yahoo! mobile services and one where we are moving aggressively," Piombo added.

Yahoo! has agreements to be the default search tool on the mobile devices of the region's two largest operators, Mexico's America Móvil (NYSE: AMX, Nasdaq: AMOV) and Movistar, of Spain's Telefónica (NYSE: TEF).

"For mobile internet services to gain mass consumer adoption they need to be easy for the consumer to discover; part of this is solved by working with the carrier," the executive added.

Piombo also said that these partnerships set the stage for future Yahoo! products and services to be offered to Telefónica or América Móvil's subscribers.

"Partnerships with mobile operators and device manufacturers are crucial as many consumers start their mobile internet experience on the carrier's portal or through internet applications the device manufacturer installed," he added.

Yahoo! oneSearch solution recognizes the intent of a search term and presents a customized set of results that are tailored to the query, the company says.

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Metals - Brazil - Votorantim to delay opening of new plant

Brazilian steelmaker Votorantim is delaying the opening of its 1Mt/y long steel facility in Rio de Janeiro state's Resende, a company spokesperson told BNamericas.

Originally set for April, the opening of the plant has not been rescheduled, according to Votorantim's press office.

"The delays were nothing serious," the spokesperson said. "We just had lots of rain these last few months which hampered construction and forced us to postpone the opening of our new facility."

Votorantim already has a 650,000t/y long steel mill in Barra Mansa, also in Rio state.

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Banking - Brazil - CEF defends US$890mn loan to Petrobras

Brazilian federal savings bank Caixa Econômica Federal (CEF) has defended its internal practices after its 2bn-real (US$890mn) short-term loan to federal energy company Petrobras (NYSE: PBR) became public last week.

The loan prompted a wave of criticism, including calls from opposition senators for an inquiry. Local newspaper O Globo reported CEF had not followed internal guidelines in the process of granting the loan, failing to consult its auditors.

"This was a unique [loan] operation, including the way it was divulged," the paper quoted Antonio Augusto de Miranda e Souza, president of CEF's auditors association, as saying.

CEF responded in a statement that its chief auditor has a non-voting seat on one of the credit application review committees that approved the loan. The bank also debated the role of auditors in its normal daily operations.

"The auditors do not need to be told before [loan] operations," the federally controlled bank said in a statement. "Their role is to audit operations that have already been completed."

What role government controlled banks will take has been a point of debate as the international financial crisis has deepened. Banco do Brasil (BB) has also granted Petrobras a loan of 751mn reais and both bank are slated to receive additional powers to buy private sector banks and financial institutions with congressional approval of MP 443.

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Infrastructure - Peru - MTC 2009 budget proposal exceeds US$1bn

Peru's transport and communications (MTC) minister Verónica Zavala presented congress a 3.3bn-sol (US$1.07bn) budget proposal for 2009, MTC reported in a release.

The proposal represents an increase of 700mn soles over 2008.

Of the total, 3.08bn soles will be allocated to the transport sector, including highways, roads, airports and trains. The communications sector will receive 115mn soles.

"The national road network is the principle investment priority for MTC, with 2.60bn soles. Of this, 1.83bn soles will be for investment programs and 77mn soles for maintenance. A total of 353mn soles will be assigned to regional and neighborhood road networks," Zavala said.

The government's five-year goal is to improve 5,184km of highways - which includes the construction of new roads, as well as improvement and rehabilitation works - through both public and private investment, the minister said.

The budget will also allot funds to land transport supervision, Zavala said, adding that resources for road safety and supervision have been on the increase.

The MTC budget has been growing every year due to the national government's commitment to infrastructure development, but there is a decades-long delay in the sector which will require the participation of the private sector, the minister said.

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Water & Waste - Chile - Epson: EPR has opened a new client segment, led to cost reduction

The Chilean branch of Japanese computerized printer manufacturer Epson has been able to reach a new client segment and save energy costs with the implementation of an official extended producer responsibility (EPR) to manage e-waste, company general manager Carlos Miquel told BNamericas.

"We have been able to reach a public that is stricter when it comes to environmental matters. It has opened a whole new segment for us," Miquel said, adding: "It is not very big now but everything indicates it will continue to grow."

"Additionally, it has created a whole new culture within the company that has led to important savings in energy costs, as employees are preoccupied with turning lights off, for example," he added.

From a corporate point of view, implementing an EPR policy has permitted the local branch to be more coordinated with requirements coming from headquarters in Japan on environmental responsibility matters, Miquel said.

LONG-TERM PERSPECTIVE

While EPR has not yet yielded economic benefits, Miquel says its implementation has more to do with long-term company benefits.

"I don't think any company that is not preoccupied with the environment and the future will survive. No one will want to have anything to do with such companies," Miquel said.

"In the very near future the country's environmental awareness will deepen and society will only work with those companies that have taken measures to protect the environment," he added.

EPR integrates environmental costs into the final market price of products by imposing accountability over the entire lifespan of a product and its packaging after it is introduced to the market.

This way manufacturers, importers and sellers of products and packaging are made financially or physically responsible for the proper processing or disposal of these goods after useful life expires.

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Privatization - Peru - MTC mulls extending Telefуnica's concession contract

Peru's transport and communications ministry (MTC) is currently studying the extension of telecoms operator Telefónica del Perú's (TdP) concession until 2024, local press reported.

This resolution has been on hold since 2004, according to the report. At that time, MTC said that it was not renewing the concession that lasted until 2019 because the operator had failed to fulfill previously defined goals.

However, sector watchdog Osiptel recently said in a report that the operator has fulfilled 84% of the goals stipulated in the company's concession.

The country's deputy communications minister Gonzalo Ruiz said that TdP has not yet asked MTC for the extension of the concession contract for the 2019-2024 period.

Telefónica is always looking to extend its concession contract as much as possible since the operator has a large volume of assets in the country, according to telecoms consultancy firm DN Consultores director Carlos Huamán.

TdP's concession contracts are different compared to other operators' contracts, Huamán said, as TdP's concession started with the privatization of the company 15 years ago.

Huamán told BNamericas that the company is mainly earmarking capex to the mobile and broadband business, while focusing on wireless infrastructure in the outskirts of large cities.

At the end of the third quarter this year, TdP had 2.94mn clients in the fixed telephony segment and 670,000 broadband subscribers. The operator expects to invest US$400mn next year, according to recent press reports.

TdP is the local subsidiary of Spanish telecommunications giant Telefónica (NYSE:TEF).

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Electric Power - Brazil - Government to host next transmission auction in March 2009

Brazil's next transmission line auction is scheduled for March 2009, according to Maurício Tolmasquim, president of federal energy planning company EPE.

The government offered on November 26 two transmission lines running 2,375km each to link hydro plants on the Amazon's Madeira river to São Paulo state.

"We'll auction a third 230kv line pre-Madeira," Tolmasquim told reporters in Rio de Janeiro.

"This reinforcement line is due to start operations in 2010, before the direct current lines, which are scheduled for May 2012, at around the time the Jirau and Santo Antônio hydro plants will be ready," he added.

The line will interconnect the states of Mato Grosso and Rondônia.

"It's normal to have auctions every year. We have been auctioning an average of 2,500km of transmission lines a year," said deputy mines and energy minister Márcio Zimmermann.

The government also plans to interconnect the Acre-Rondônia system through the March 2009 auction, Zimmermann added.

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