BUENOS AIRES, Argentina—The decrease in cellular users in Argentina has generated a new strategy for operators, consisting of the sale of used terminals with lower costs than new ones. During the last four months, the value of new terminals has tripled as a consequence of the devaluation of the local currency against the U.S. dollar and the lack of national production.
Operators are not willing to lose potential clients. So they are offering “used terminals,” terminals that have been returned to the company by users abandoning cellular services. According to the National Institute of Statistics and Census, the quantity of terminals in service dropped by 4.9 percent and traffic from and to cellular phones fell by 23.6 percent in March in Argentina compared with the same month of the past year.
The cheapest new terminals are around US$60 for Movicom BellSouth and CTI M
