|
Argentina’s telecommunications market is a little different. For starters, the country developed a large cable penetration with almost no regulatory framework.
Today, cable operators can offer telephone services and most do; but Telcos cannot offer TV. For that reason, to date, telecom competitors that want to offer video services are not allowed to do it except as a value-added service in mobile phones. Accordingly, the three major mobile operators have partnered with content providers or produce their own content.
Argentina has two major Telcos: Telecom Argentina (with 39pc share) and Telefonica (with 49pc share), plus 300 independents (with the other 9pc), “But our market is saturated, with all the operators competing for the same consumers, with the same telephone and broadband services,” according to Edmundo Poggio, General Manager for Strategy and Technological Evolution at Telecom Argentina, speaking at IPTV World Forum Latin America.
Mr. Poggio believes that there are three ways out of this impasse. The first would be to produce new income, which could come from IPTV, mobiles and other value added services. The second would be to reduce churn by increasing quality, providing personalised services and unique and targeted offers. Third, to reduce costs by combining all services over one network.
The telecoms operators are pressing regulators to allow them to offer video to the TV but, until then, Argentina must live with a different TV reality, where cable companies have a built-in competitive advantage, rather than healthy competition with Telcos, as is the case in the US. If the competitive floodgates are opened, Telecom has already evaluated the possible TV business models.
|
