Portugal Telecom said Friday it has been granted approval to buy a US$5 billion stake in Brazilian operator Oi. According to a Reuters report, Anatel, the local regulator, has given the green light to the deal on condition that Portugal Telecom pays a BRL74 million (US$43.7 million) debt owed to Fistel, a government-backed fund that overseas development in the country’s telecoms industry. “The deal creates no cross shareholdings. There are no conflicting licenses. We don’t think there are any impediments from the operational point of view,” said Anatel’s Joao Rezende at a press conference.

Portugal Telecom announced in July it was to pay BRL8.44 billion (US$4.97 billion) for an undisclosed stake in Oi, Brazil’s largest fixed-line operator and fourth-largest mobile operator. Oi announced last week that net income rose to BRL427 million (US$251 million) in Q3, up BRL64 million from a year earlier and ahead of average estimates of around BRL395 million in a Bloomberg analyst poll. However, sales fell 3 percent to BRL7.33 billion. Portugal Telecom’s investment in Oi marks a return to the Brazilian market for the firm after it sold its 50 percent stake in Vivo – the country’s largest mobile operator – to co-owner Telefonica for EUR7.5 billion in July.