SANTIAGO (Reuters) - Chilean telecoms and cable television operator VTR said on Monday it planned to invest around $155 million this year, similar to 2008 levels, and said it would bid for a 3G mobile license.
VTR, a subsidiary of Liberty Global Inc (LBTYA.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), is Chile's leading cable television operator. It has fixed line telecom and internet businesses and is looking to enter the mobile telecoms market.
CEO Mauricio Ramos told the Reuters Latin American Investment Summit in Santiago the company would finance its investment plans from cash flow.
"We are going to maintain investment at similar levels to last year, when we invested around 90 billion pesos," Ramos said. "We are going to maintain (investment) to prepare ourselves for when things pick up again."
"We have two main areas of investment -- continuing to improve the size and capacity of our network ... and penetrating new segments of the population."
Ramos said VTR was intent on winning a 3G license.
"We are very focused on the 3G project. We think it is very important for the future development of VTR in Chile," he said. "There is a lot of room for growth here in Chile."
(Reporting by Monica Vargas and Antonio de la Jara; Editing by Simon Gardner, Phil Berlowitz)
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