Spain's Telefonica to put in $670 million in Colombia Telecom.(COLOMBIA)(Brief article)

Spain's Telefonica SA (TEF) is in the process of investing around $670 million in Colombia telecommunications company Colombia Telecomunicaciones (CTMC.YY), as per the statement from the executive president of Telefonica International, Jose Maria Alvarez-Pallate. It had also purchased a stake in Colombia Telecom for around $370 million. The company had emerged victorious after defeating CANTV for the stake.

Telefonica plans to put in $300 million for Internet services, $120 million in the fixed-part operations, and $250 million on the upgrade of technological aspects. Also, Telefonica president Cesar Alierta said that the company would not be investing any more in the regions in Asia and Europe. The company has a presence of around 173 million users in the continents. It plans to increase its stake in the Chinese telecom company China Netcom Group Corp., to 15 percent from 10 percent. In November it received the authority to put a second member on the board of directors.