The CADE (Economic Defense Administrative Council) has definitively approved the purchase of Nextel by Claro (America Movil group), an operation announced in March 2019 and to which TIM Brasil had appealed.

According to TIM Brasil, if approved, the operation would have allowed the Claro group to accumulate a very large amount of radio frequencies, unbalancing the market. According to the CADE there are no risks of imbalance, given that the appeal by Tim Brasil does not consider alternative technologies and the fact that the market will shortly undergo major changes following the 5G auctions (editor’s note: auctions that will be regulated in 2020 and that will be probably completed by 2021). In any case, Claro has undertaken to return the radio frequency quotas that exceed the 35% limit imposed by Anatel as the maximum value held for a single operator.

The value of the transaction is US$ 905 million, which will be collected by the NII Holdings (USA), owner of Nextel, which will sell 100% of the shares.

Nextel is known for having launched and monopolized the radio call service, mainly used by the corporate market. In recent years, however, following the offer of unlimited calls by the competition (primarily TIM Brasil) he had to revise his strategy, investing in 3G telephony.

Nextel definitively left the radio service in October 2017.

Only at the end of 2015, with a clear delay compared to the main competitors Vivo, Claro and TIM Brasil, Nextel entered the 4G market.

In March 2019 Nextel had approximately 3 million customers, with a market share of 1.44%; in terms of 4G access, the share was 2.45%, thanks also to aggressive commercial policies.