Oi (telecommunications)

Oi S.A.

Traded as	BM&F Bovespa: OIBR3, OIBR4 OTC Pink Current:
Industry	Telecommunications
Founded	1998
Headquarters	Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Key people	Bayard Gontijo, interim (CEO)
Products	Fixed line & mobile phone internet services Pay television
Revenue	US$ 12.0 billion (2013)
Net income	US$ 634.7 million (2013)
Number of employees	18947
Parent	CorpCo
Website	Official Website (English)

Oi (IPA: [ˈoj], Portuguese for "Hi"), formerly known as Telemar, is the largest telecommunications company in Brazil and South America, both in terms of subscribers and revenues. It is headquartered in Rio de Janeiro. Oi's major subsidiaries include Telemar and Brasil Telecom.

At the end of 2013 Oi had 74.5 million subscribers, including 16.9 million for landline, 50.3 million for wireless , 5.3 million for ADSL, and 1 million for other services.

In 2013, Oi announced its merger with Portugal Telecom, the largest telecommunication company in Portugal, in order to strengthen the Brazilian firm and simplify its ownership structure. In June 2015 Portugal Telecom was acquired by Altice Group.

On June 20, 2016, Oi filed for a US$19 billion (R$65 billion) bankruptcy protection, the largest on record for Brazil.

Oi's chief executive officer (as of October 2014) is Bayard Gontijo, who also serves as the company's chief financial officer and director of investor relations.

Oi (then known as Telemar) was formed as Tele Norte Leste to merge sixteen state-owned incumbent local exchange carriers, 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.