Telecommunications

Gustavo A. Cisneros,Chairman and CEO of the Cisneros Group of Companies, today announced that Venevision Investments LLC has joined with private equity firms Bain Capital Partners, LLC Blackstone Management Associates V, LLC, Carlyle Investment Management, LLC, Cascade Investment, LLC, and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. LP., and with Mexican broadcaster Grupo Televisa, to make a plan or proposal for a transaction with Univision Communications Inc., the leading media company serving the fast-growing U.S.-Hispanic market.

mun2 announced the development of several all-new originally-produced programs during Telemundo’s Upfront presentation held at New York City’s Frederick P. Rose Hall, home of Jazz at Lincoln Center.

Sprint announced the availability of Sprint TV En Vivo, the first live Spanish-language video and audio service for mobile phones in the U.S. The high-speed service is available on select handsets equipped for the Sprint Power VisionSM network and offers a mix of Spanish and English language channels delivering breaking news, sports, entertainment, music videos, weather and other live programming that is specifically designed for the Hispanic community.

Today, the personal computer remains the dominant platform to access the Internet globally. However, Internet access via the mobile phone actually outpaces wireless access from a notebook PC in many of areas of the world – a statistic driven largely by the massive install base of mobile phones throughout the world as well as more developed wireless networks, according to The Face of the Web, the annual study of Internet trends by global market research firm Ipsos Insight.

Sprint announced the results of the Sprint U.S. Consumer Wireless Usage Study, a nationwide survey of wireless phone users. The findings show that more than half of wireless phone subscribers (56 percent) rely on their mobile phones for features such as cameras, clocks, calendars, messaging, music and as a substitute flashlight for seeing in dark places.

Yankee Group announced that the tween market is the next new growth opportunity for wireless carriers. The tween market, defined as 8- to 12-year-olds, has 5.3 million wireless users, accounting for 2.6% of all wireless subscribers. Amongst tweens, 27% have cell phones—a penetration rate that is almost one-third that of the overall wireless industry average as of year-end 2005.

Young U.S. Hispanics lead the tech vanguard, according to a new report issued by the Tomas Rivera Policy Institute (TRPI) at the University of Southern California. The report, Trends and Impact of Broadband in the Latino Community, illustrates how broadband has become the new telecommunications standard.