BUENOS AIRES, Argentina-Early in 2001, several countries in South America have changed their tariff schemes with the objective of reducing the existing gap between the cost of fixed calls and cellular tariffs. In general, cellular calls cost more than landline calls in the region, but that is beginning to change.
In Argentina, a 12-percent reduction in the cost of calls made from fixed phones to cellular phones was established in January, and calling party pays (CPP) was extended from just calls from fixed lines to calls from public phones and from cellular phones. Secretary of Communications Henoch Aguiar said this will allow the “low-consumption clients to be exempt from assuming costs generated by a third party.”
The tariff reduction will be extended to offer another discount of 4 percent in July and a similar reduction in January 2002.
According to a study from consultancy Telenexo based in Argentina, costs for international calls in Argentina fell 36 percent during the last six months. “For example, in July, a three-minute call to the USA had a cost of US$2.07 through Movicom BellSouth and US$1.83 through CTI M
