Argentina. After an analysis, the Board of Directors of the National Communications Agency, Enacom, unanimously approved the merger between Cablevisión and Telecom but put a series of restrictions and obligations in order to guarantee competition, quality of service and protect cooperatives and small businesses in the sector.
In this sense, the resolution transfers to Telecom de Argentina S.A. the broadcasting services and radio spectrum frequencies for mobile services belonging to Cablevisión S.A. This decision is part of the policies that Enacom has been carrying out to favor the optimal implementation of the quadruple play in the country that will begin to govern in AMBA, Rosario and Córdoba as of January 1, 2018.
Likewise, Enacom established a series of obligations to the new company that pursue the benefit of users. In those locations where Telecom has a significant market position, it must offer the same commercial conditions as in the Metropolitan Area of Buenos Aires (AMBA), where there is more competition. Likewise, the protection is extended until January 1, 2019 for all those localities of less than 80,000 inhabitants and for those localities in which the service is provided only by a cooperative or SME.
It was also resolved that the company will have to return the radio spectrum that exceeds the maximum allowed of 140 MHz. From the merger, Telecom has 220 MHz, so it will return a total of 80 MHz.
In addition, Enacom established in 2016, for this or any company, the conditions to provide the services of Quadruple Play, establishing that the price of each of the services must be detailed and offered separately at the same value, without conditioning the contracting of any service with the contracting of another. This measure will allow each user to choose the option that best suits their needs.
Finally, in order to ensure competition in the sector and facilitate the development of new competitors, Telecom should allow other companies to use its infrastructure to offer their services under transparent and accessible conditions.
On the other hand, the National Commission for the Defense of Competition is evaluating the merger and may impose new adjustments.
