Brazilian telecoms company Oi has this week been declared bankrupt.

Oi was declared bankrupt by a Rio de Janeiro court on November 10, despite selling several assets through two judicial reorganization processes.

Oi's financial struggles date back many years. Founded in 1998 and formerly known as Telemar, Oi filed for bankruptcy back in 2016 with debts of R$65bn (US$19bn) and has been looking to sell its assets since. The company was put in what was then Brazil's largest-ever bankruptcy protection.

It had looked as though the company had turned a corner in 2022, when it exited bankruptcy protection in December that year, after six years.

“The current state of insolvency of the debtors is already a public and well-known fact, recognized by creditors, the market, and service providers, such that the judicial liquidation of the company is deemed imperative,” the court document reads, as seen by Bloomberg.

Bloomberg reports that Oi's operations will "provisionally continue" to ensure the maintenance of essential services and the orderly liquidation of the company’s assets.

At present, the company offers integrated fixed voice, broadband, and pay TV services.

As of Oi's second quarter report, it had about 35 billion reais ($6.6 billion) in gross debt.

Pacific Investment Management Co. is listed as the Oi's biggest shareholder, with about 36 percent of the total capital.

Through several asset sales in recent years, the company was able to reduce some of its debt.

Earlier this year, the company sold its fiber optic business to V.tal for R$5.71 billion ($980 million).

Its mobile business was sold for R$16.5bn ($3.23bn) back in 2020 and split between Brazil's three big mobile operators TIM, Telefónica, and América Móvil, with TIM picking up the most assets.

In July 2023, Oi completed the sale of 8,000 telecom towers to Digital Bridge's Highline, while the telco also agreed to sell selected telecom tower and property assets to American Tower Brazil.

Piemonte Holding acquired several data centers from the telco in 2021, which were used to form Elea Data Centers.

BNAmericas separately reports that the remaining companies within Oi will have 60 days to submit a recovery plan.

The publication reports that the current court-appointed administrator, Bruno Rezende, will assume leadership of the bankruptcy proceedings, while Tatiana Binato will be responsible for managing the subsidiaries Serede and Tahto.