BUENOS AIRES, Argentina—Despite the strong devaluation of the national Argentine currency—28.6 percent in the official price and almost 100 percent in the free market—cellular telephony tariffs will remain the same as before the devaluation, but in pesos rather than U.S. dollars. Meanwhile, the operator’s debts are in U.S. dollars and grow in conjunction with the peso’s devaluation.
Of the five cellular operators, Nextel is the only company that so far has been unable to pay its debt and had to renegotiate a US$8.3 million debt with its creditors. According to a report released by ING Barings Bank, CTI M
