Financial Times | April 1, 2011 | Naomi Mapstone
It costs about 30 cents to check your email in Peru if you duck into one of thousands of grimy internet cafés that also offer photocopying, scanning, printing and international phone calls. In a country with low levels of internet penetration and service providers that charge like wounded bulls, these little “cabinas” are essential.
But they – and big internet providers Telefonica and Telmex – are about to face a new challenge with the arrival of US-based China Tel.
In August, China Tel – which got its start in 2008 deploying wifi in Beijing for the Olympics – plans to roll out 4G broadband networks in seven of Peru’s biggest cities via its Peruvian subsidiary PeruSat.
“The cabinas are offering one sol (about 30 cents) per hour, so we’re trying to either beat that or meet that,” Ryan Alvarez, vice president of strategic planning, told beyondbrics.
Unlike the cabinas, China Tel’s services will allow customers to get on the internet at home, using USB memory sticks and so-called MiFi cards – stand-alone devices that create mobile wireless hotspots. Most business will be pre-paid, as most Peruvian customers have no credit history.
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