The claim of Adrián Giordano, Commercial Manager of the company, was echoed in the audience of NPlay South Cone 2023, who agreed that there are practices of this type on the part of Claro, although there were no specific references to the subsidiary of América Móvil. The executive warned that "the generalization of this situation" will cause problems in a short time, especially if a passive stance is maintained by those affected.
Ariel Graizer, head of Cabase, urged licensed operators to file complaints against predatory practices in case they are detected. It should be recalled that last year Gigared initiated a process against América Móvil's subsidiary in Resistencia and Santa Fe.
Patricio Seoane, manager of Internet Services, pointed out that the existence of Internet and TV plans "for $ 900" constitute a dilemma for ISPs. "We want to be called an industry, and most of the operators in this event say that we should defend ARPU. $900 is not defending ARPU. We are walking off the cliff, but these companies have the economic capacity to put on parachutes. We can't resist selling below cost. I already know six or seven colleagues who have fallen off the cliff," he said.
As an alternative to deal with this problem, Raúl Malisani, Multicast's Relations Director, postulated what was suggested in one of the regulatory panels of the event: that there should be a Competition Defense area within Enacom to follow these issues.
OTTs. Malisani also cleared-up another concern of cable operators: "I am worried that after paying rights for 38 years, they will use my screen to advertise streaming platforms. They take away my content and use my channel to promote what they sell directly", he claimed.
Marcelo Tulissi, president of the Argentine Chamber of Cable Operators and Internet Pymes (Cacpy), aligned himself with this message. "Thirty years ago we bought the rights from these companies. They use our own screens to heat up their platforms. With what we pay them, we are subsidizing their experiment of looking for the last mile, mainly sports, which is the most attractive in the cable. If they take sports away from us, we are out of business. Only one company manages sports in the whole continent. It is a problem that goes beyond Argentina. We must be more united than ever and make a more serious approach," he urged.