Argentina's President Says Number Portability To Start March 30
March 14 2012 - 7:22PM
Dow Jones News
Argentina's President Cristina Kirchner said Wednesday that
number portability will be available nationwide on March 30.
Last week, Argentina's quartet of wireless carriers started
testing the portability system, which allows consumers to keep
their phone number when changing service providers.
Argentina is following in the footsteps of Brazil, Chile and
Mexico in adopting number portability.
Mobile operators have already started bombarding consumers with
full-page newspaper ads and television commercials touting their
products and calling plans.
Franco Bertone, chief executive of Telecom Argentina SA (TEO,
TECO2.BA), recently said portability will do more for customers
than it will for companies.
"People have started thinking of their phone number as something
that they own" and the industry has to adapt to that, Bertone said
at a press conference last month.
But portability isn't expected to cause a major shakeup in an
industry that has just over 55 million subscribers. In other
countries that have portability, just 3% to 5% of customers switch
carriers a year, according to wireless industry executives.
Argentina boasts one of the highest mobile phone ownership rates
in the world thanks in part to Argentines' adoration of
technological gadgets.
In 2010, Argentina had about 142 mobile phones for every 100
residents, according to the International Telecommunications Union.
By comparison, Brazil had 104 per 100 residents, Japan 95 and the
U.S. 90.
Claro, a unit of Mexico's America Movil SAB (AMOV, AMX, AMX.MX),
is the largest of Argentina's four mobile companies with about 19
million customers.
Telecom Argentina SA reported 18.2 million wireless subscribers
at the end of December, followed by Spain's Telefonica SA (TEF,
TEF.MC) with 16.7 million and U.S.-based NII Holdings Inc's (NIHD)
Nextel Argentina unit with 1.5 million.
Industry executives say competition is already cutthroat, but
portability will force companies to offer better deals and
service.
-By Ken Parks, Dow Jones Newswires; 54-11-4103-6740;
ken.parks@dowjones.com