In the same week that Spanish telecom giant Telefónica announced a $502 million (Bs 2.16 billion) investment in its Movistar unit in Venezuela, the Argentinian government fined it about $41.7 million (185 million pesos) for a massive service outage there in April.
In Argentina, Planning...
After securing a U.S. $26.5 million in new equity funding to develop its regional business, Virgin Mobile Latin America (VMLA) launched its operations as a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) in Chile yesterday (April 10) . The founder of Virgin Group, Richard Branson, went to Santiago, the country's capital,...
Colombia’s government has unveiled its telephone number portability results. During the first three months of this year, 167,914 mobile users kept their original phone numbers when they switched to a new telephone operator. From August 2011 to March 2012, a total of approximately 300,000 lines...
Spain's Telefónica(NYSE: TEF) said Monday it has reached an agreement with Colombia's government to merge fixed-line operator Colombia Telecomunicaciones (Coltel) with mobile operator Telefonica Moviles Colombia.
Telefónica owns 52% of Coltel, with the Colombian government controlling the remaining 48%. Under the agreement, the Colombia government...
Virgin Mobile Latin America (VMLA) has secured U.S. $26.5 million in new equity funding to develop its regional business and launch mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) services in Chile.
The new funding consists of equity from existing shareholders, including the Virgin Group and ePlanet Capital,...
It has been a few years since the end of the telecom sector monopoly in Costa Rica. The Superintendent of Telecommunications Sutel says ending the monopoly has led to great advances for the country's mobile industry. The mobile telephony penetration rate jumped from 42.38%...
América Móvil's Claro and Telefónica's Movistar, new entrants to Costa Rica’s wireless market, have appealed to the Ministry of Environment, Energy and Telecommunications (Minaet) to extend their network rollout deadline. Local paper El Financiero reported both telecom operators said they are facing difficulties installing...
Colombian government’s plan to boost telecommunications in the country is set to increase competition among operators and expedite the deployment of 3G services, broadband Internet and MVNO operations. Forget about the Colombia you may know from the 1990s. The current scenario is different and...
Virgin Mobile Latin America (VMLA) confirmed today it would launch operations in Colombia in the second half of the year. The company said it has received all regulatory approvals necessary to begin its business from the Ministry of Information and Communication Technologies, and recently...
The Costa Rican unit of Spanish telecom giant Telefónica filed a complaint Dec. 20 with Costa Rican telecom regulator Sutel against state-owned operator Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad (ICE). Telefónica, which operates under the Movistar brand, accused ICE of anticompetitive practices in promotions for prepaid...
Ecuador ended November with 15.76 million mobile subscribers, of which prepaid and GSM mobile phones accounted for the largest portion, according to the Ecuadorian Superintendence of Telecommunications (Supertel).
The country's prepaid base accounted for 13.35 million of users, while postpaid accounts numbered 2.41 million at...
Colombia's ICT Ministry has published a bulletin detailing the progress of its national digital plan, Vive Digital, which was launched last year to overcome several barriers to massification of the Internet.
Virgin Mobile Latin America has received regulatory approval from Mexico’s Ministry of Communications and Transportation to provide wireless communications in Mexico as a mobile virtual network operator.
Costa Rica's telecom monopoly is coming to an end. The nation's telecommunications regulator Sutel has granted mobile operators Claro (Carlos Slim’s América Móvil) and Telefónica’s Movistar the mobile numbers they requested in August and September. Now, they are able to start operations in the...
As RCR Wireless News previously reported, Virgin Mobile has tapped Chile as its initial launch market for mobile virtual network operator services in Latin America. The company announced that it had signed an agreement with Telefónica’s Movistar operations in the country to launch service in...
After three rounds of bidding and three hours' time, the ICT Ministry of Colombia auctioned 30 megahertz of spectrum in the 1900 MHz band, of which 25 were assigned. The nation's three operators -- Tigo, Comcel and Movistar -- paid US $79.89 million for...
With more than 5.3 billion mobile connections across the globe, the wireless industry continues to chase worldwide saturation.To the surprise of few, the world's most populous nations – China and India – are also the world's largest mobile markets. China continued to lead the...
Colombian mobile users can switch operators and keep their existing numbers beginning today (July 29). The number portabilitywas possible by a law passed in 2009 and a resolution adopted in 2010. Number portability in Colombia may reach 50 million subscribers. The user only needs...
Three Colombian carriers - Telefónica Móviles Colombia SA (Movistar), Comcel SA and Colombia Móvil (Tigo) - have submitted their relevant application forms formally to participate in the upcoming spectrum auction set for Aug. 10.
The Colombian government plans to auction 30 megahertz of spectrum in the1850-1990 MHz band to be...
Telefónica Movistar has invested US$ 20 million to launch HSPA+ technology and begin to offer 4G services in Guayaquil, the largest and the most populous city in Ecuador. The mobile network will be the most advanced in the country. With HSPA +, Movistar’s customers...
Ecuadorian mobile operator Alegro PCS, controlled by the national state carrier CNT, may migrate from CDMA to HSPA+ to improve and expand its services. According to the local newspaper El Universo, CNT is expected to invest US$ 74 million and the new technology might be...
