Argentinian telcos pledge additional infrastructure investments
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Argentinian telcos pledge additional infrastructure investments

Telecom Argentina has pledged to invest $5 billion to boost infrastructure in Argentina following the loosening of local regulations.

The Argentine telco will invest $1.3 billion to expand connectivity in 2018, with the remaining $.37 billion to be spent in 2019 and 2020.

It will focus on driving fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) connectivity across the country, whilst also bringing IPTV into homes supported by Cablevisión, which it merged with at the start of the year. It will increase the reach of hybrid platforms like Flow and Arnet, which integrate video-on-demand (VOD) and other advanced TV features.

“It will enable us to deliver not only our own digital content, but third parties’ content, with more quality and faster speed,” said Telecom Argentina.

It added it would finance its investments through “various financial instruments available in the market,” without providing any further details, according to Reuters.

The investment builds on synergies between its commercial brand Personal and Cablevisión. The two were allowed to merge after Argentina’s telecoms regulator opened up the market by allowing providers to offer quadruple play services of mobile, fixed line, cable TV and broadband services.

Enacom’s decision has led rivals including Telefonica and Claro – part of American Movil – to acquire Pay-TV licences in specific regions of Argentina. 

Telefonica has also announced plans to up its investment by pledging $2.6 billion into the country, according to a report from iProfesional. Telefonica is funding a major infrastructure push in 4G and fixed broadband infrastructure as it waits for the government to give the go-ahead to its move into the multi-play services sector.

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