VIDEO INTERVIEW: Daniel Fuchs, chief innovation officer of Vodafone Brasil, a MVNO, is keen to see the UK-headquartered group become more firmly rooted in the Brazilian market after future rounds of operator consolidation.

“We hope that Vodafone decides to move for frequencies, or something more interesting,” he told Mobile World Live in a recent interview.

Fuchs stressed that, as a non-equity partner, Vodafone Brasil has no inside information as to what Vodafone Group’s intentions might be.

“There are many rumours regarding the consolidation process in Brazil… and all the time the Vodafone name appears, but it’s still just rumours,” he said.

Last August it was reported that Vodafone is considering an acquisition of one of the three major Brazilian operators, with TIM its favoured target. Buying a network, rather than just being a MVNO, would represent a major new focus for the UK operator. Indeed, South America has not been the centre of attention recently for Vodafone as it has looked to strengthen in markets where it already has a mobile presence by adding fixed networks.

In 2013, Vodafone Group announced a partnership agreement with Datora Telecom, a MVNA (mobile virtual network aggregator), allowing the Vodafone brand to be used for an MVNO. Vodafone Brasil is initially targeting the IoT market.

“It’s the first case in the world that Vodafone operates as an MVNO,” said Fuchs, adding that Vodafone Brasil has more than 100,000 customers in the IoT space. “Enterprise solutions will come later,” he said.

From an MVNO perspective, Fuchs is keen for consolidation to happen in the Brazilian market.

“You have too many people operating the cells in the field, and we don’t see value today in coverage, which is a must,” he said. “And if coverage is a must, and everybody has to have the same coverage, it makes sense to have only two or three guys operating the network side, and then have differentiation through the network core and systems. Differentiation is now on the experience side and not on the network side. In this case, consolidation on the network side makes sense.”

Watch the whole video here.