AOL, Cisneros Form Online Joint Venture

America Online Inc., the world’s top Internet services provider, and Venezuelan conglomerate Cisneros Group said Tuesday they have formed a joint venture to offer online services across Latin America.

The two partners said each will invest $100 million initially to fund the 50-50 joint venture. The Spanish- and Portuguese-language AOL services will be accessible to AOL members in the United States and elsewhere around the world, the companies said in a statement.

AOL and Cisneros, a $3-billion company with wide Latin American media holdings, said that within a year the venture plans to start operating country-specific AOL services in Brazil, Mexico and Argentina, the region’s three fastest-growing markets.

Other countries would be added “as opportunities arise,” the two companies said, pledging a long-term commitment to help create a mass market for Internet services in the region, which includes Mexico, Central and South America and the Caribbean--with a population estimated at 460 million.

Only 5 million or so computer users have online access in Latin America, and telephone lines reach roughly just one-tenth of the population, but market researchers project surging demand for new communications services in coming years.

Cisneros, one of Latin America’s largest private companies, has broadcast, cable and satellite television and radio interests in Venezuela, Chile, Colombia, Trinidad and Argentina, as well as in Spain and Portugal.

Cisneros said Brazil has 1.2 million online connections, while Mexico has 328,000, and Argentina has 221,000.

AOL and Cisneros plan to extend to Latin American markets what AOL executives call their “secret sauce” of easy-to-use online services, which offer programming, e-mail, chat rooms, Internet access and competitive pricing.

Shares in Dulles, Va.-based AOL jumped $3.50 to close at $92.75 on the New York Stock Exchange.