Among the outstanding news of the 3G CDMA Latin America Regional Conference, that came to an end yesterday in the Mexican city of Cancun, that of a huge operator rendering commercial services in CDMA 450 Mhz for the first time stood out the most. Telmex from Mexico anticipated to Convergencialatina that in June it will launch the commercial offer in this technology that seemed an exclusive niche for small operators.

Marco Antonio Galván, vice president of Strategy and Innovation of Telmex Mexico affirmed to Convergencialatina  that the Telmex’s initial offer will be focused on rural areas, since in Mexico a problem in 450 MHz band is the amount of interferences being produced by radio taxis and radio ham systems. Galván rejected developing services in sub-urban areas, at least at the moment, until the Mexican regulatory body establishes band clearing methods.

In his presentation in the forum organized by CDG, Galván highlighted that Telmex engaged itself –in terms of social responsibility- in covering 15,429 towns with 450 MHz and in bringing Internet service to schools and hospitals. In Mexico, there are almost 200 thousand towns with less than 5,000 inhabitants and to those communities – mostly scattered- the incumbent will be aimed. Galván mentioned that “it is important to achieve connectivity in those areas through copper, mainly because the communities are quite scattered".

So far Telmex has started to correct one of the initial problems caused in the expansion of its infrastructure, since the first radio bases installed were pretty low. Telmex’s product will be offered with prepaid plan and installation kit.

Another company present at CDG forum was Valtron from Peru that was pioneer of CDMA 450 MHz commercial offer in Latin America. Ruddy Valdivia, manager of Valtron, affirmed to Convergencialatina that the company is looking for funding to expand services beyond Huarochi, rural area where Valtron project is placed in the country. According to Valdivia, Valtron’s strategy will continue without the prepaid method, different from Telmex that will do so in Mexico. “We do not need prepaid because since we operate in very small towns we know all of our customers. Valtron has found market in Zambia, proving that customers are, though it is clear that you have to look for them. Most of them are people that have never imagined they would have a phone”.

On the other hand, Valtron’s executive, pointed out the social characteristic of the company's project, highlighted they are offering Internet and free telephony in schools and health centers, and explained that, in spite of that, CDMA 450 generates good profitability margins.

“Those wondering about the profitability in offering telephony in scattered areas, should know that monthly yield per subscriber is of US$ 19 per incoming traffic and of US$ 12 per outcoming traffic. This one generates around 120 monthly minutes and incoming around 175 minutes per customer. We achieve this with rates of US$ 0.07 per minute in local telephony against the US$ 0.50 charged by the dominant companies”.