Argentina - Internet competition

ISP Association in Argentina Plans Alternative Fibre Network
see also Cisco Broadband Barometer

Business News Americas reports that Cabase, the ISP association, has plans to deploy an alternative optical fibre network to link up local optical networks with regional and national networks. According to Hernán Seoane, this bandwidth bottleneck is currently controlled by the fixed-line incumbents Telefónica de Argentina and Telecom Argentina. Seoane believes that the deployment of fibre in this part of the network would lower the cost of traffic transit and encourage broadband deployment outside of the large cities. Cabase plans to send its plan to Secom, the telecoms ministry in the next two months.

Significance: Cabase cites Cisco's broadband barometer, which says that 83.3% of broadband connections in Argentina are in Buenos Aires, Santa Fe and Córdoba. Data from Indec, the government statistical body, suggests that at the end of 2007 there were 2.14 million consumer broadband connections and another 0.21 million business broadband connections. At the end of December 2007 the two fixed-line incumbents had 1.6 million broadband connections between them, so some 68% of connections in the country.