This year will bring competition to Argentina’s interior cellular market, now served only by Compania de Telefonos del Interior under a two-year exclusive license.
Owned by GTE Corp., AT&T Corp. and local partners, CTI rapidly built out an Advanced Mobile Phone Service-based system after winning interior licenses for both the north and south of the country.
CTI’s exclusive license ends in March, and Compania de Comunicaciones Personales del Interior in the north and Telefonica Comunicaciones Personal in the south are getting ready to begin service. Both are deploying AMPS and Time Division Multiple Access networks from L.M. Ericsson.
CCPI is a subsidiary of Telecom Argentina, the wireline concession owner in the north that is partially owned by STET and France Cables et Radio. TCP is a subsidiary of Telefonica de Argentina, which operates the country’s wireline concession in the south.
In addition to their moves into cellular in the country’s interior, both Telecom and Telefonica are adding wireless extensions to their wireline operations for serving interior areas. Pyramid Research Inc. reports the following developments:
In a $30 million to $40 million project, Telecom is building wireless local loop systems in Cardoba, Rosario and rural areas. Together, the systems should accommodate 30,000 subscribers. Telecom also awarded Italtel a contract to install a Global System for Mobile communications-based wireless local loop system in El Tigre.
With a $25 million to $35 million investment, Telefonica plans to install about 25,000 lines of wireless local loop in rural areas of the south, as well as some urban and suburban areas. Telefonica tested with 200 subscribers a TDMA-based WLL system from Tadiran in Bursac-part of Buenos Aires-during the third quarter of 1995.
