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发表于 23-3-2009 12:52 AM
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Chilean-Malaysian JV wins rural broadband project - Chile
Published: Wednesday, March 18, 2009 16:32 (GMT -0400)
By Patrick Nixon / Business News Americas
Inverca Telecom, a Chilean company associated with Malaysia-based WiMax operator Packet One, has been awarded a 56bn-peso (US$93mn) deal to provide wireless broadband in rural Chile, Chile's transport and communications minister René Cortázar said at a press conference.
The minister said that the company won because in its offer it requested zero government subsidies. The other three bidders - Telefonica Chile, Entel, and Comunicación y Telefonía Rural (CTR) - asked for subsidies of 28bn pesos, 22bn pesos and 31bn pesos, respectively. The government was prepared to pay out a subsidy of up to 35bn pesos.
The project will involve providing connectivity to 1,470 rural communities that consist of more than 850,000 households and 3mn individuals. There are also 800 schools. The idea is to boost industries such as agriculture and tourism in those areas.
Cortázar said it is stipulated that Inverca must establish 30% coverage of the rural areas by October this year, 70% by July 2010 and 100% by March 2011, when the country expects 92% of its total population of around 16mn to have access to internet, compared to the current 70%.
The cost of the internet service will be approximately 15,000 pesos a month per megabyte.
Speaking on the sidelines of the press conference, telecommunications regulator Subtel's head Pablo Bello told BNamericas that the government is evaluating how to provide some sort of help to those rural communities to pay for access to the internet. He said that the principal obstacle to such communities adopting internet is that often, there is not a perception or understanding of how internet can boost productivity. The government will be carrying out educational programs to that end.
There is also the problem of cost, and the government does not rule out a direct subsidy to help pay the bills. However, Subtel is seeking other, more indirect means of helping citizens access internet, such as subsidies of PCs as well as incentives for operators to drop prices and become more competitive.
COMPETITORS
The two surprise contenders in the bidding process were Inverca Telecom and CTR, both of whom offered to deploy WiMax technology, whereas Entel and Telefonica planned to provide the service over the 3G networks of their sister operators, Entel PCS and Movistar.
Inverca has traditionally been a software integrator and is part of local company NomadeNET.
Bello said that he was encouraged by the fact Inverca allied with an experienced WiMax operator that has deployed the technology in topography in Asia that is often similar to that of Chile.
"It is good news for the country. Not only will we have a new operator, we will also have new technology that can become more widespread than it has been to date," Bello told press.
Chile already has some limited offerings of WiMax in the 3.5GHz band.
"The 2.3GHz band is better from a technological point of view. But, also, this is a company that is dedicated to WiMax, has expertise in WiMax, that produces equipment for WiMax in the same bands as those that we use in Chile. That makes a world of difference having a company with know-how in developing a complex project like this one," Bello said.
Chipmaker Intel (Nasdaq: INTC) has said it is very interested in helping to finance the winner of the project through its financial wing Intel Capital.
http://www.bnamericas.com/news/telecommunications/Chilean-Malaysian_JV_wins_rural_broadband_project
[ 本帖最后由 klagigi 于 23-3-2009 12:57 AM 编辑 ] |
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