Court blocks Oi’s bankruptcy and orders Union and Anatel to come up with a solution

In his ruling, the judge also summoned the National Telecommunications Authority (Anatel) and the federal government. The judge cited a Department of Public Affairs opinion that called on regulators and coalitions to come up with alternative solutions to maintain essential public services, including the contribution of public resources.

In addition to being the sole voice provider for 7,500 locations, Oi has more than 4,664 contracts with public agencies, particularly for emergency call operations such as SUS, Ibama, and the police. Yesterday, V.tal, which is managed by BTG, filed an appeal questioning the TJ’s decision of the first instance.

The judge emphasized that “bankruptcy is not the best solution” and said that “suspension of bankruptcy can cause direct losses to society and public administration, especially since the act of bankruptcy is directly related to the performance of public interest activities.” Oi is currently undergoing his second judicial recovery.

She said that despite the debt, “this issue is not unfeasible at this time and there is still jurisdiction to raise it.” In justifying his decision, he asserted that “the company’s latest results do not conclusively prove the cause of the failure, but rather highlight serious management problems.”

The judge recalled, “The maximum decline in total income will occur from May 2025 to October 2025.” The judge said the financial difficulties were caused by a management team established after Pimco acquired a 40% controlling interest in the telecommunications business by capitalizing some of its debt.

“Evidence of abuse of authority by the administrator and the administrator was the decisive reason for the trial judge’s decision to dismiss the Oi Group administrator,” the judge said.

He highlighted examples of mismanagement, including the “extremely expensive hiring of experts (including the $100 million hiring of lawyers to pursue Chapter 11 in the United States) that is inconsistent with the state of recovery.” Therefore, she also decided that Bruno Rezende would continue in his role as the company’s judicial manager.

Oi currently has debts totaling 11.2 billion reais. From May to July of this year, the company’s operating losses amounted to R$313 million. “Since January 2025, monthly income has consistently been lower than monthly obligations, creating liquidity risks and making it difficult to meet the obligations of the approved judicial rehabilitation plan,” the ruling said.

She recalled, “However, there is a need to provide legal certainty and predictability to the process so that the liquidation of assets occurs in an orderly manner within the judicial recovery process.”