Thursday, January 24, 2002
Brazil on said it was looking into registering popular prepaid mobile phones rather than banning them as part of a package of measures to combat crime in Latin America's biggest country.
The news is likely to be welcomed by mobile phone companies such as Portugal Telecom's subsidiary Telesp Celular (NYSE:TCP - news), Brazil's biggest mobile operator. More than two-thirds of Brazil's nearly 29 million mobiles are prepaid.
``It cannot be said that we intend to prohibit prepaid cellular phones. What we intend to do is register the phones,'' National Justice Secretary Elizabeth Sussekind was quoted as saying on the Justice Ministry's Web site.
Telesp Cel shares rose 2.2 percent to 7.50 reais, while rival Telemig Par gained 1.6 percent to 3.71 reais. Both were outperforming Brazil's benchmark Bovespa (^BVSP - news) stock index which was 0.4 percent higher.
The phones, which operate with cards paid for in advance, require no formal registration, making them accessible to all ages and income levels. Parents also buy them for their children so they can keep in touch without fear of them running up big bills.
Sao Paulo state Gov. Geraldo Alckmin asked President Fernando Henrique Cardoso on Monday to prohibit the sale of prepaid mobiles as pressure grew for a swift reaction to the high-profile murder of a mayor over the weekend.
Alckmin argued that prepaid phones were popular with criminals and inmates in Brazil's beleaguered prison system because they were anonymous.
``You can trace the number but you can't trace the person,'' Sussekind said.
But analysts said the proposal to ban the biggest selling type of cellular phone was misguided and would not stem a rise in crime such as kidnappings.
Kidnappings in Sao Paulo state grew fivefold to over 300 cases in 2001 from 63 in 2000.
The state also is at pains to control the penal system where overcrowding often results in riots, violent killings, and frequent escapes.
Police believe cellular phones played a key part in the organization of Brazil's biggest prison rebellion in recent times when 29 Sao Paulo state jails staged a coordinated riot in early 2001.
Communications Minister Pimenta da Veiga said on Wednesday that a method of blocking the use of cellular phones in prisons could be ready by March, the government news agency Agencia Brasil reported.
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