Venezuela's CANTV loses monopoly
Latin American Newsletters, Ltd.
October 3, 2000
On 27 November, almost a decade after it was privatised, Venezuela's telecoms company CANTV will lose its monopoly in basic telephony and long-distance services.
The opening of the sector to foreign investment and competition is part of a national telecommunications plan for the 2000-2012 period, which will also entail granting concessions for the radio frequency spectrum and the introduction of new services in areas like wireless telephony and Internet hook-ups.
The government hopes to attract US$2bn in investment this year through the liberalisation of telecommunications -- and some are projecting an inflow of up to US$10bn over the next five years.
The national telecommunications commission, Conatel, reports that among the companies interested in operating in Venezuela are AT&T of the US, Spain's Telefonica and Italy's Telecom.
Currently there are just 11 fixed telephony hook-ups for every 100 Venezuelans -- but 15.8 cell-phone links per 100, which has awakened great interest among providers of wireless services, a sector open to competition since the mid-1990s.
In the next few weeks, Conatel will also put up to tender two new services: the WLL (Wireless Local Loop), making fixed wireless telephony possible; and the LMDS (Local Multipoint Distribution Service), also wireless, which will offer bandwidth for transmitting voice and video.
Venezuela's rates compared
US$
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Venezuela US
200 min local 8.72 10.76
50 min long-distance 12.5 4.5
60 min international 98.4 9.9
Unlimited Internet 31.93 0
asd
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Source: Alexis de Tocqueville Institution
