Brazil’s newest mobile operator Unicel plans to launch commercial services in Sao Paulo metropolitan area on 7 September under the brand name Aeiou, BNamericas reports citing a company statement. Unicel, owned by president and CEO Jose Roberto Melo da Silva and HiTs Telecom, acquired a GSM licence in the region in October 2007 for BRL93.8 million (USD60 million). The CEO is looking to attract 500,000 subscribers in its first year of operations and has already invested BRL250 million in rolling out its network. At launch, Unicel will offer a pre-paid only service in the state capital as well as in Guarulhos, Osasco, Santo Andre, So Bernardo, Sao Caetano and Diadema. Service charges will be BRL0.14 per minute (on-net), BRL0.28 a minute to fixed lines and BRL0.63 per minute to other mobile numbers. Prior to launch, Unicel is performing calling tests with 10,000 people, starting 15 August.

Unicel has selected SmartTrust, a SIM and mobile device management (MDM) solution, to support its launch. SmartTrust will deploy its comprehensive portfolio of over-the-air technologies including SmartProvisioning, SmartAct and SmartaLaCarte. With the SmartTrust product suite, Aeiou will be able to automatically configure devices coming onto its network and successfully introduce the subscriber to its VAS offerings within the critical first hour, it said. Unicel faces a tough challenge to establish itself though. The Sao Paulo metropolitan market is already served by the likes of Vivo, Claro and TIM Brasil, while Oi (Telemar) has also indicated it will launch services there in October.

Source:telegeography