Telemar Norte Leste

Telemar Norte Leste is the largest landline telephone company in Brazil, considering both lines in service and revenues. It is headquartered in Rio de Janeiro. Telemar Norte Leste merged sixteen state-owned incumbent local exchange carriers (ILECs), during the privatization of Brazilian telecommunications system. Each carrier served a particular Brazilian state in the northern, northeastern and southeastern part of the country. In the break-up of Telebras in 1998 it was sold to a consortium led by the Brazilian construction firm Andrade Gutierrez (21.2%) and Inepar Holdings(20%) as well as other Brazilian corporate and individual investors. The consortium paid 3.434 billion reais. Initially, Telemar was allowed to offer only local voice and data services and interstate long distance voice services. Today, Telemar and its subsidiaries offer local, long distance and international voice and data services, besides a growing mobile phone network. Currently, Telemar Norte Leste has 15.2 million land lines in service, 5.7 million wireless customers, 2 million ADSL subscribers (2009,) and about 38 thousand employees.