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Wireless Federation » archive for 'Ecuador'

iPhone 3G launches in 20 countries on August 22

  • August 7th, 2008
  • 12:18 pm

The iPhone 3G will be launched in twenty more countries on August 22. All the operators concerned have made their formal announcements. 10 countries are Latin American.It is predicted that SingTel will also join the mix, but the reports are yet to be confirmed.

August 22 releases

    * Argentina - Telefonica and America Movil
    * Chile - Telefonica and America Movil
    * Colombia - Telefonica and America Movil
    * Czech Republic - O2
    * Ecuador - Telefonica and America Movil
    * El Salvador - Telefonica and America Movil
    * Estonia - Eesti Mobii Telefon
    * Guatemala - Telefonica and America Movil
    * Honduras - America Movil
    * Hungary - T-Mobile
    * India - Bharti Airtel and Vodafone
    * Paraguay - America Movil
    * Philippines - GlobeTelecom
    * Peru - Telefonica and America Movil
    * Poland - Orange and Era
    * Romania - Orange
    * Uruguay - Telefonica and America Movil

   

American Movil to begin iPhone sales in 10 countries across Latin America

  • August 7th, 2008
  • 7:23 am

American Movil, largest operator in Latin America, announced that it would begin selling Apple iPhone this month in ten countries of Latin America.

According to American Movil, the new iPhone will be available from August 22 in Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Paraguay, Peru and Uruguay.

It was in May that the company signed a deal for iPhone distribution across Latin America.

America Movil has already started sale of the device in Mexico and its Brazilian unit Claro is expected to begin sales soon.

   

Ecuador rejects latest America Movil bid

  • April 21st, 2008
  • 2:21 pm

Ecuador’s President Rafael Correa warned Mexican telecoms company America Movil that it must improve its second bid to hold onto a mobile operating contract or leave the country.

An Associated Press report quoted Correa in his weekly radio address saying that, “The first offer they presented us was a real insult to our intelligence. The second isn’t as bad, but it’s still far from what the concession is really worth.”

America Movil, Latin America’s largest mobile phone service provider, is owned by Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim. It has operated in Ecuador since 1993. Its concession expires in August, but two previous, undisclosed offers to renew the contract were rejected by Ecuador’s government. America Movil has made no comment on the situation.

In February President Correa announced that local units of America Movil and Spain’s Telefonica, which also runs mobile services in Latin America, must pay a combined total of €442 million (US$700 million) to renew operating contracts – 12 times the €36.6 million (US$58 million) they paid for their concessions in the 1990’s.

Telefonica agreed to pay €140 million (US$220 million) to extend its contract through to 2023, Correa said before threatening to hold an international auction for America Movil’s concession. He added that Slim’s company would not be allowed to bid unless it reaches an agreement within the next few weeks.

America Movil’s subsidiary, Porta, controls 68.8% of Ecuador’s mobile phone market, while Telefonica’s Movistar controls 26.8% and state-run Alegro PCS controls 4.4%, the report said.

   

Movistar wins new 15-year contract (Ecuador)

  • April 8th, 2008
  • 2:34 pm

Telefonica’s Ecuadorian mobile subsidiary Movistar has reached an agreement with Rafael Correa’s government to extend its operating concession by 15 years to 2023, the country’s telecoms supervisory body Suptel revealed, without disclosing licence fee terms. The agreement is subject to approval by sector regulator Conatel. The government had previously argued that the new licence period should be ten years, and that concession fees paid by Movistar and rival Conecel (Porta) should add up to a total of USD700 million, compared to approximately USD50 paid for the original licences. Porta, the local unit of America Movil, is still in negotiations with the authorities. The new contracts will cover 3G W-CDMA services, not included in existing concessions; despite the lack of formal 3G licensing,Conecel pressed ahead with its next generation ambitions, launching W-CDMA-based services under the banner GSM Turbo 3G in August 2007.

   

 

Porta touts nationwide 3G by year-end; refuses to pay USD27m fine (Ecuador)

  • February 11th, 2008
  • 1:36 pm

Conecel (Porta Celular), the Ecuadorian subsidiary of Mexican mobile giant America Movil, expects to roll out 3G video calling with nationwide coverage by the end of this year, reports BNamericas. The company is reportedly currently offering limited services over 3G technology in the capital, Quito, and Guayaquil, but telecoms regulator Senatel has not yet authorised video call services.

In other news, Porta has refused to pay a USD27 million compensation bill for rounding up end-user tariffs almost a decade ago, as it has already paid off these charges, local press quoted the cellco’s legal advisor Daniel Bernal as saying. Porta claims that the fine ‘was the opinion of the ombudsman and has no legal basis. It’s pure fantasy that they establish an approximate range of values for rounding rates: USD13 million and USD27 million.’ ‘[In the ombudsman study] it says the company posted revenue of USD29 million in 1999, while USD27 million corresponds to rounding rates?’ Bernal questioned.

   

Ecuador nears 10 mln mobile subscribers (Ecuador)

  • January 9th, 2008
  • 2:57 pm

Ecuador finished November with a total 9.814 million mobile subscribers, according to market regulator Suptel. Porta remained the largest operator, with 6.75 million customers versus 5.45 million a year earlier. Movistar’s base grew to 2.63 million from 2.41 million, and Alegro increased its subscriber numbers to 429,000 from 326,000. Since September, Suptel has applied a definition of subscribers as active when using services in the past 90 days.

   

Ecuador see mobile subscriber base hit 9.23 mln (Ecuador)

  • November 6th, 2007
  • 12:33 pm

The number of mobile subscribers in Ecuador was 9.23 million at end-September, up from 9.15 million at end-August, according to Suptel, the Ecuadorean telecommunications regulator. Conecel (Porta) had 6.575 million subscribers, up from 6.48 million at end-August. Otecel (Movistar) had 2.65 million subscribers, down from 2.668 million. Conecel had 5.85 million prepaid GSM customers, while Otecel had 1.39 million prepaid GSM customers.

   

Ecuador’s mobile subscribers grow to 9.25 mln at end-June

  • August 1st, 2007
  • 2:39 pm

Conecel (Porta) had 6.196 million mobile subscribers at end-June, thus leading the Ecuadorean mobile services market, according to figures supplied by the company to Suptel, telecommunications superintendence. Otecel (Movistar) had 2.64 million users, while Telecsa (Alegro PCS) had 412,597 users. Total subscribers were 9.25 million.

   

Mobile users up to 9.25 million

  • July 31st, 2007
  • 3:27 pm

Ecuadorian mobile network operators ended the first half of 2007 with 9.25 million subscribers compared to 7.67 million at end-June 2006, local telecoms supervisory body Suptel said in a statement, quoted by BNamericas. Porta, a unit of Mexican giant América Móvil, remained market leader with 6.19 million subscribers, followed by Movistar Ecuador, a unit of Spain’s Telefónica, with 2.64 million users, and locally owned Alegro with 412,597 clients. The total GSM customer base at the end of the period was 7.66 million (82.8% of the market), with the remainder using CDMA and TDMA services. Earlier this month Movistar asked local telecoms regulator Conatel to establish a single method for counting mobile subscribers, as according to the operator, all three main players currently use different measurement criteria.

   

 

Cellcos shut down AMPS/TDMA services

  • July 26th, 2007
  • 3:28 pm

Ecuadorian mobile operator Porta plans to shut down its AMPS/TDMA network by 30 September 2007, according to a statement by regulator Suptel, quoted by BNamericas. Porta, owned by Mexico’s América Móvil, is in the process of migrating its client base from TDMA to GSM technology. Rival cellco Movistar Ecuador also plans to shut down its AMPS/TDMA network on 31 December 2008. The company, a unit of Spanish giant Telefónica, has already stopped marketing new AMPS/TDMA connections and is aggressively encouraging a migration to GSM.