Lula approves telecoms law change

Brazil’s president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva yesterday approved a change to the country’s telecoms law, BNamericas writes citing local press as saying. As reported in CommsUpdate earlier this week, the industry regulator Anatel approved changes to telecoms rules in October allowing telcos to buy rival operators holding concessions in different areas of the country – paving the way for Oi’s proposed BRL13 billion (USD5.66 billion) deal. If the government had not approved the telecoms law on time, Oi would have had to pay a BRL490 million fine for not finalising the acquisition of BrT by the 21 December deadline.