Franco Cecchini, President of the Cámara Argentina de Comunicaciones Convergentes (CATIP) (Argentine Chamber of Convergent Communications), was confident about the project to implement the fifth mobile operator in the country. For Cecchini "the current service is so bad and prices so high that it will be easy to compete. State has to realize that SMEs and cooperatives can compete". Cecchini added, defiantly, that "locally, each in its place, we beat the big multinational companies".
The project submitted to the government to provide mobile services, (developed in Convergencia Telemática April issue) was officialized on the Internet Day 2017 organized by CABASE, which ends today. Nicolas Vidal, on bahalf of the Cámara de Cooperativas de Telecomunicaciones (CATEL) ((Chamber of Telecommunication Cooperatives), gave details of the initiative, which includes the request for 20 MHz in the low bands (700 MHz and 900 MHz) and other 20 MHz distributed between AWS and 2.5 GHz. Vidal said that the tests were carried out in cities and towns throughout the country such as Rosario, Concepción del Uruguay, Cañada Rosquín, Pilar, Pinamar, Charata, Las Lajitas and Monteros, among others.
Catel representative confirmed that the chambers are thinking of being a single entity to deploy the core of the network, and partners would be responsible for local infrastructure. "The mobile networks carry an important optimization work after hey are implemented, thus we ensure quality", said Vidal. He also reiterated that where SMEs and cooperatives are involved, 50% of mobile data traffic is done on Wifi over networks of those companies, so there is an opportunity to capture that business.
Less euphoric than Cecchini, CABASE president, Ariel Grayzer ,acknowledged that it is a "defensive move" to keep customers in view of the proliferation of multiple play offers by competitors. Grayzer reiterated that the Minister of Communications, Oscar Aguad, assured them that they will give them spectrum and pointed out that the project is based on decree 1340/16 and resolution 1299/17 that enabled Nextel to enter 4G. He also explained that frequencies are being asked over which they are already providing services to facilitate the migration of customers with their devices. He did not explain it but, as advanced by Convergencia, the project does not contemplate the purchase of the final device, which must be acquired by the user.