Along the rest of the year, Telcel BellSouth, the main cellco in Venezuela, will try to position mobile data transmission services. In December 2002, the firm launched CDMA 1x services, and it’s time now to introduce new apps. The corporate strategy points both to corporate solutions, and end-user-oriented ones.

Enrique García Viamonte, President of Telcel-BellSouth, told Convergencialatina that high-consumption residential users are clients “most likely to use high-technology apps, players, cameras”. In this sense, the company closely follows the evolution of new services, already successful in Asia. Besides, for the corporate market “3G 1x with CDMA allows mobility for wireless points of sale, for instance”, explained García Viamonte.

For the time being, the mass apps offered by Telcel run on the product BellSouth Internet Móvil. García Viamonte said they are working with a big distribution firm in Venezuela to use cell terminals “as a point of sale to take orders and send them online to a computer. It is a young technology, but the firm bases expectations for the rest of the year on it”.

Telcel BellSouth will charge mobile data per byte pack. “This is the philosophy we are implementing –said García Viamonte-, as it is more reasonable for users, specially for corporate users”. Currently, the plan BellSouth Internet Móvil Navegante Plus monthly costs US$ 87.50 (140,000 Bolivars), and includes 200 Mb of browsing; each additional Kb costs 75 cents of Bolivar.

Although it is early to consider the results mobile data transmission will render to the firm, the President of Telcel asserted that “3G will be the turning point, and most of corporate turnover will come via data”. “In general –García Viamonte added-, our big users account for 15% of the mobile subscriber base, that account for around 50% and 60% of the traffic. Telcel has 2.5 million users, and if this rule is applied, we may be considering some 300,000 and 400,000 prospect data users”. And, beyond mobile data, the company plans to offer data services to 300,000 residential fixed CDMA subscribers.

However, the price of terminals works as a barrier for data service expansion. Likewise, García Viamonte considers that once 3G gains scale, phone costs will go down. In the terminal segment, Telcel works with Gtran, Motorola, Samsung and, soon, with a terminal Audiovox.

However, in addition to terminal costs, gear imports in Venezuela were affected by the dollar restriction imposed by the Government. All purchases abroad that need foreign currency shall be registered in the Currency Administration Commission (Cadivi) –under the Finance Ministry- that allocates dollars to importers. “We were lucky, as we bought a generous amount of gear in December”, García Viamonte explained. “We have been using that stock so far”, though also Telcel closed deals with providers to make purchases in Bolivars, at rates to be negotiated with each company. “As from June, we’ve been receiving allocations in dollars from the Government and the Cadivi to purchase gear, and invest in infrastructure. For the industry, the worst is over”, he said.

Currently, Telcel BellSouth has a market share of 48% in terms of clients, and 52% as regards total turnover in the segment. “We want to keep that share, and if possible, increase it a little, specially in remote areas in Venezuela, where we have a satisfactory coverage”, the President of the company asserted. “We made a 100% matching of our network, and we leveled CDMA and 3G coverage. And the said coverage reaches 98% of the active population, and 93% of Venezuelan territory”.

CDMA 1x network supplement Telcel BellSouth¿s WLL strategy. According to García Viamonte, the firm counts on 8,000 wireless fixed broadband users. The President of the company explained that WLL enables data transmission to compete with the ADSL provided by Cantv, incumbent.

“As 3G grants further capacity and speed –García Viamonte said-, WLL may turn into the corporate last mile, and not necessarily in the device individual users can adopt to access Internet. I think 3G has the potential to struggle with WLL on equal terms, but some years are still necessary”.