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Argentina's fixed-line market surprised in 2008 when it saw subscriptions pass 9mn at the very end of the year. Rather than declining as would be expected from a market that has passed 100% penetration in the mobile segment, the presence of competition to the two incumbents has helped to keep pushing up fixedline connections. However, Telefónica de Argentina (TASA) and Telecom Argentina retain a particularly high proportion of the market, but ongoing restrictions over offering pay-TV services could see them rapidly lose share.
The difficulties over broadcasting rights for telecoms operators is not exclusive to the Argentine market, and the objections raised by cable TV providers is certainly nothing new. TASA and Telecom Argentina have both reached agreements with DirecTV Argentina to offer joint billing as this is the only way for the operators to enter this area of the market. For TASA it would be a means to counter the declining fixed-line subscriber base while Telecom Argentina will also benefit from greater growth of its customer base.
As we concentrated on the mobile market in the previous report, this quarter the focus has been on introducing new analysis of both fixed-line and broadband services. The latter is a major area of growth in Argentina with ADSL, offered by both incumbents, showing exceptional growth and dominating the market in terms of technology. Alternative platforms such as WiMAX are also being introduced to the Argentine market and could be key to bringing services to more remote areas in the country. Although the mobile market data analysis has remained unchanged, we have fully updated the end of year figures as Telecom Personal data is now available. Our estimates had been just a little lower than the final figure.
With the broadband market growing over 35% in 2008, this will be the main focus for operators going forward. Argentina has already overtaken Chile as the most developed mobile market, and its current growth forecasts for broadband services could certainly see it become a regional leader in this area too.
Argentina Telecommunications Report Q3 2009: http://www.companiesandmarkets.com/r.ashx?id=7F7713R9R155765
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