BUENOS AIRES, Argentina-Although cellular telephony client bases doubled last year in Uruguay and Paraguay, at this point it seems only Paraguay will be able to achieve this objective again in 2000.
Uruguay’s strong cellular growth has slowed during the year, with a lack of competition as the possible reason.
A few months after launching mobile Internet services in Argentina, Movicom BellSouth introduced the same service in Uruguay, where the company has more than 180,000 clients.
General Manager Pablo de Salterain commented: “Along with this, we are also providing short message services (SMS) for clients with CDMA equipment.”
Movicom BellSouth inaugurated personal communications services (PCS) and wireless Internet in Uruguay, although it only offers its services in the southern region of the country, where 80 percent of the total population lives.
Its competitor, Ancel, is preparing to launch PCS and wireless Internet services in November, but under a different methodology. Rather than charging by the minute, Ancel will only charge for traffic volume “much like the scheme used by AT&T in the United States,” said a source in the company.
Ancel is the cellular telephony company of Administraci
