Regulator launches inspections into alleged irregularities at Telebras

Brazil’s securities regulator CVM launched two separate investigations into Brazil's former telecoms monopoly Telecomunicacoes Brasileiras (Telebras), BNamericas reports, according to TeleGeography CommsUpdate.

The first investigation centers on the alleged misuse of classified information in transactions involving Telebras’ stock in 2007 and 2008. The second case focuses on whether there was wrongdoing in the government's recent digital inclusion announcement, which is designed to provide national broadband coverage - possibly with the help of Telebras.

According to TeleGeography's GlobalComms Database, in August 2009 the Brazilian government began considering a plan to restructure and reactivate former state-run telecoms services provider Telebras.

Under proposals being formulated by the planning ministry, the former telecoms monopoly, which was sold to private investors in the late 1990s, could use the infrastructure of domestic oil giant Petrobras and state-run power company Furnas Centrais Eletricas (Furnas) to manage a broadband network linking Brasilia, Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Belo Horizonte. The state's plan was activated following glitches in the local broadband network of Telefonica Telesp, which revived discussion on resuscitating Telebras.