BUENOS AIRES, Argentina-The arrival of a third cellular telephony operator will provide the conditions for the Bolivian market to acquire more cellular than fixed telephony users during the first half of this year. Currently, there are 500,000 cellular telephony and 570,000 fixed telephony clients.
New operator Nuevatel plans to gain 100,000 clients in its first year of operation.
The company-owned 67 percent by Western Wireless and 33 percent by Cooperativa de Telecomunicaciones de Cochabamba-invested US$60 million for the launch of Viva GSM personal communications services at 1900 MHz. The new player has triggered a decrease in the sector’s tariffs and an improvement in services. Nuevatel’s Viva GSM service provides traditional services, as well as short messages, caller ID, e-mail, and in the near future, mobile Internet.
