Movida Expands to Texas

Posted by Elena del Valle on July 8, 2005

Miami, FL–(HISPANIC PR WIRE – BUSINESS WIRE)–July 7, 2005–The Cisneros Group of Companies announced that Movida, the nation’s first pay-as-you-go wireless communications service specifically targeting the 40 million Hispanics living in the United States, is now available in Dallas and Austin, Texas and is preparing to launch in Los Angeles, the nation’s largest Hispanic market.

"We are extremely pleased with Movida’s progress so far and gratified at the enthusiastic response of Hispanic consumers in our launch markets," said Movida Chairman Enrique Garcia. "We have been operating for about eight weeks and everything is going according to plan thanks to the support of Wal-Mart, which has teamed with Movida and our regional distributors to offer our phones across the nation," Mr. Garcia said.

Movida is launching new features and new equipment to better serve the telecommunications needs of the U.S.-Hispanic market. Movida offers the new Kyocera SOHO phone with its unique clamshell design, large color display, web access and lots of exciting personalized features.

Movida also plans to offer access to exclusive Hispanic-specific news and information content including regional news programming, Latin American soccer scores, celebrity news and gossip, clips from telenovelas and patron saint of the day. Movida was launched at Wal-Mart stores in Phoenix and San Diego in mid-April and now serves Houston, San Antonio, El Paso and other cities throughout the Rio Grande Valley in Texas.

Movida, majority-owned by Cisneros, teamed with Sprint (NYSE:FON) and Wal-Mart (NYSE:WMT) to begin providing wireless voice and data communications using the Sprint nationwide wireless network, with rate plans that cater to the needs of the U.S. Hispanic market. Through its arrangement with Wal-Mart and other regional sales outlets, Movida is rolling out Movida-branded handsets and cards in select markets starting across the nation.

Movida Communications, Inc. is a newly formed wireless service provider offering pay-as-you-go wireless voice and data communications services exclusively to the U.S. Hispanic population, using Sprint’s all-digital, all-PCS nationwide wireless network. As the nation’s first MVNO (Mobile Virtual Network Operator) targeted at Hispanics, Movida offers all standard custom calling features plus a suite of international voice and data services featuring culturally and geographically-focused content in Spanish.

The Cisneros Group’s holdings include interests in: Venevision, the leading broadcast television channel in Venezuela; Venevision International, a Spanish-language entertainment company with specialization in TV programming; Univision Communications Inc. (NYSE:UVN), the number one provider of Spanish-language content to the U.S. Hispanic audience; Claxson Interactive Group Inc. (XSON), an integrated Ibero-American media and entertainment company; DIRECTV Latin America, a direct-to-home satellite TV provider with operations across the region; Cerveceria Regional, the second-largest brewery and beer distributor in Venezuela; Backus & Johnston, the largest brewer in Peru and the sixth-largest in Latin America; and Pueblo, one of the leading supermarket chains in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. For more information, visit http://www.cisneros.com.

The Cisneros Group of Companie, one of the largest privately held media, entertainment, technology, and consumer products organizations in the world, owns, or holds interests in companies ranging from broadcast television networks and pay television services, to beverage businesses and supermarkets. The Group has recently expanded its activities from Ibero-America to countries worldwide.