Telefónica maintains its commitment to its Brazilian business

Telefónica Brazil "remains a fundamental asset" for the Spanish telecommunications giant. With this statement, the president of the South American subsidiary, Christian Gebara, addressed recent reports of a possible sale of part of its stake in that market, at a time when the company is carrying out significant divestments throughout Latin America.

Although he did not specifically address the news published a month ago by the Spanish newspaper El Economista, which referred to the need to increase capital without adding more debt, he did emphatically reaffirm the company's importance to the parent company "along with Spain, Germany, and the United Kingdom."

According to the executive, the Vivo brand—as Telefónica's presence in Brazil is known—"contributes significantly to the group's results, in terms of growth and, especially, cash generation." The company represents 23% of the parent company's total revenue this year, "even with the devaluation of the real."

Currently, Telefónica España holds 70% of the Brazilian subsidiary's capital, meaning the multinational would retain control of Vivo if it decided to divest at least 20%.

Gebara's statements came after Telefónica Brasil announced its results for the second quarter and first half of this fiscal year.

In detail, the company reported a net profit of 2.403 billion reais (406 million dollars) between January and June, representing a 13.5% year-over-year increase. During that period, it also generated revenue of 29.035 billion reais, 6.7% more than the previous year.

Between April and June, the company recorded net profit of R$1.34 billion, a 10% year-over-year increase, below the R$1.37 billion expected by the market.

Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) rose to R$5.93 billion, an increase of 8.8% year-over-year.

Last year, the Spanish group divested its subsidiaries in Guatemala, Costa Rica, Colombia, and Uruguay, and announced the sale of its subsidiaries in Argentina, Ecuador, and Peru.

Telefónica was recently reported to be in exclusive talks to sell its Mexican business to Beyond ONE, owner of Virgin Mobile Mexico. That unit could be valued at €520 million ($609.28 million), according to a research note published by Kepler Chevreux in June.

While in Argentina, Telecom is making final steps toward financing its acquisition of Telefónica, a deal announced in February for $1.245 billion, in the case of Colombia, Uruguay, and Ecuador, the buyer of Telefónica's operations was Millicom, a telephone services operator founded in Luxembourg in 1990.

In the case of its business in Peru, the buyer of Telefónica's operations was the Argentine firm Integra Tec, which is seeking to secure its share of the 5G spectrum allocation in the Andean market.