ANTEL
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| State-owned | |
| Genre | Telecommunications |
| Founded | 1974 (spun off from UTE) |
| Founder | Juan María Bordaberry |
| Headquarters | Montevideo, Uruguay |
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Area served
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Uruguay |
|
Key people
|
Andrés Tolosa (President) |
| Revenue | U$S 0.9 billion (FY2011) |
| Owner | Government of Uruguay |
| Divisions | Antel Moviles, Antel Datos e Internet |
| Website | www.antel.com.uy |
ANTEL (Administración Nacional de Telecomunicaciones; Spanish: National Administration of Telecommunications) is Uruguay's government-owned telecommunications company, founded in 1974 as a separate legal entity after spinning off the telecommunications division of UTE, which had the monopoly of landline telephony since 1931. The company has a monopoly of landline telephony and data services in the country. They also provide mobile phone services (in direct competition with Claro and Movistar) and Internet-related services, being the only provider of ADSL and land-line data services because of the monopoly situation.
In 1992, under the presidency of Luis Alberto Lacalle, a privatization of all government-owned companies was attempted. However, a later referendum revoked the privatizations law, being Pluna the only company to be successfully privatized to Varig. Antel enjoys a monopoly on land lines in Uruguay.
As of 2008 ANTEL's monopoly status also forbids cable operators even in larger cities, such as Montevideo, to provide data services (Internet) or voice services along with their cable service.
Antel started deploying fiber to the home in Montevideo in 2012, aiming to switch 240,000 clients that year with a cost of US$180 million. Previous DSL subscribers keep their contract, or may switch to faster Internet Vera plans: 150/12 Mbps for USD 72/month, 120/12 Mbps for USD 61/month, 60/10 Mbps for USD 49/month, or 30/4 Mbps for USD 32/month, throttled back to 10% of those speeds after a 700 / 350 / 400 / 150 GB cap. IP television, voice over IP and connections in the department capitals are expected for 2013 and 2014.
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Wikipedia