SANTIAGO, Chile-Entel, Chile’s monopoly long-distance provider, is the informal winner of two personal communications services licenses, but the company will forgo one of those licenses, reported Isabel Valenzuela, commercial counselor for the U.S. Embassy in Santiago.
“Two licenses … are too much for Entel and it has announced it will decide on one of them,” wrote Valenzuela in a recent Embassy report.
According to preliminary evaluations announced late last month by the Subsecretariat for Telecommunications, Entel PCS, Entel Telefonia Movil and ChileSat Telefonia Personal will be awarded PCS licenses early next year.
In fourth place was CTC Moviles, a subsidiary of Compania de Telecomunicaciones de Chile.
“Entel will probably make its decision based on the project that requires less funding in the longest period of time. Entel can either sell one of the licenses or it can resign to it paying in the guarantee of US$1 million dollars,” said Valenzuela.
Subtel will not charge license fees, but operators are required to submit a deposit as a guarantee of keeping project commitments.
