Interestingly, the promised competition between the three large telecommunications operators from a greater opening comes with a lot of delay. At least, according to the expectations created in the consumers.
- So far, the only company that offers the most fixed packaged services, with the basic telephony, television and broadband is Claro.
- On the other hand, Telefónica and Telecom concentrate on fiber optics and television, although for different reasons.
- In addition to the three basic services, the local subsidiary of América Móvil adds value services such as Claro Música and Claro Video to its proposal.
Telefónica and Telecom continue with their strategies focused on the double fiber and TV game, with some value propositions. But this will remain so for a few more months.
Competition
Everything indicates that, forward, the two main companies will add services, be basic -like mobile telephony- or value. And that competition will also become more visible when they enter the area of the other. With fiber or with mobile.
For the moment, and as it is seen in the table, it is not possible to compare identical services between them. Each company prepares its proposals according to the strategy carried out in each region and its background
Telefónica has concentrated its current efforts on the growth of the television business, which it knows very well at a regional level, but on which it takes its first steps in Argentina. And it does so supported by the deployment of its new fiber optic network.
This is a double challenge, since it is the country that has the most developed pay TV market at a regional level with 80% penetration, according to private consultants. The leader of this business is precisely Telecom / Cablevisión, its main competitor.
Hence, the current effort of the company is focused on the package that combines fiber optic 100 and 300 megabytes with HD television, which includes Netflix and Movistar Series as an exclusive channel, in addition to a signal dedicated to the -sports.
The operator invites you to contract your Internet subscription and, on it, other valuable services: from technical support to Napster music and Movistar cloud storage, all at a different price.
At the moment, it does not include mobile telephony within these combos because it understands that the cell phone is a personal service. Consequently, they will keep it "on the sidelines", since they seek to conquer the home.
"It is working on other platforms that integrate the mobile, this year there will be new features," they told iProUP from Telefónica, without giving further details.
The company already offers its Movistar TV service in some areas of the Federal Capital, and West and South of the province of Buenos Aires along the three cords. And at the beginning of this year he already presented his proposal in Mendoza, Neuquén, Bariloche, Mar del Plata and San Juan.
Strategies
What happens with Telecom / Cablevisión? The company is also focused on offers that combine television, its main business, with broadband. And it offers Flow as a platform for accessing content on demand. This proposal is available in all places where the company has a presence.
What happens with Personal telephony? It is prohibited to integrate it with television until July 1, 2019, date imposed by the National Commission for the Defense of Competition (CNDC) as a condition to approve the merger. And as today TV plays side by side with broadband, the strategy focuses on those two services.
Beyond this situation, the operator also brings together a great part of the effort in the Flow platform, in which it proposes exclusive contents and, as it was said, the on demand alternative to watch both the programming of the open TV signals and the classic ones of Pay TV. It is the modality that most attracts users in the "Netflix era".
So things, if a customer wants to have telecommunications services with the same operator and not receive different bills, the only current chance is Claro.
This company promotes a service strategy that can be contracted individually or in a combo but always under the same concept: to prove that it has the best market price.
"We want everyone to have access to the best and cheapest product, there is no better price for more services", they explain to iProUP from the company.
But again there are buts. It is not a commercial option available throughout the national territory, but packaged services are provided in those areas where there is greater population concentration, good purchasing power and little competition. It is a way to conquer, at least in a first phase, that captive audience in the absence of options.
Claro's combos are available in Hurlingham, Vicente López, Morón, 3 de Febrero and Berazategui, in the province of Buenos Aires, as well as the city of Salta.
From the company, they assure iProUP that they will not hesitate to enter an area where there is a competitor, whatever it may be.
When it comes to the double package consisting of telephony and broadband of 100 megawatts, Claro's coverage extends a bit more and reaches - in addition to the various localities of Buenos Aires - Guaymallén (Mendoza), San Miguel de Tucumán and the cities of Salta , Santa Fe and Córdoba. The latter appears as other areas where, it is expected, a high level of competence is registered.
What happens with Telefónica and Telecom customers who would like to have the mobile service with the same company? They must make a separate contract. As it was said: in the case of Telecom, due to regulatory obligation; in Telefónica's, by decision.
The Spanish capital firm is currently marketing postpaid plans (with subscriptions) with different data capacities:
- Start with a 2GB proposal and continue with options of 4 GB, 7 GB and 10 GB. In all cases with promotional prices at 50% for 12 months.
- The 2 GB costs, with that benefit, $ 284.5 per month; while the 10 GB is $ 794.5 per month under the same promotional modality.
- All plans include an additional 10 GB to navigate for three months, plus free calls to the phones of all operators in the country and unlimited SMS, also to any company.
As the strategies of firms are increasingly focused on customer loyalty - the cost of obtaining a new one is higher than the cost of retaining it - in all of these plans the "pass of gigas" from one line to the other is also added. another, one of the latest commercial news of the company. Ideal to stay connected to the nearest circle even when all the credit was used up.
Given the impossibility of selling mobile telephony in combo with pay television, Telecom keeps both services separate (at least until July 1).
"Through our product proposal, we seek to adapt to the relationship of each client with technology and, from there, offer the best connection alternative, which is why we have offers tailored to each household in order to satisfy their needs, "they say to iProUP.
In this scenario, they highlighted that combos are still offered that combine Fibertel's initial speeds with analog Cablevision products, up to those that include the Cablevisión Flow premium products together with faster connection times, with prices between $ 1,600 and $ 2,000 for the subscription of 25 mbps.
The coverage area for these services is basically where the company provides Cablevisión's pay TV service, which now reaches 3.48 million subscribers, according to its latest report.
Regarding mobile telephony, Telecom faced a strong move oriented towards Fibertel's customers: those who owned the broadband service and passed on to Personal have the chance to have a bonus the first year of the mobile subscription.
It also deploys a strategy aimed at seducing customers of other operators, with discounts that reach 30%. And in an action similar to that of Movistar, it offers plans of 2 GB, 4 GB 7 GB and 10 GB, whose prices range from $ 480 to $ 1,350 per month.
The truth is that the competition is not as one imagines or intends it. One year after starting the process, the big providers are arming themselves from the technological and the commercial and, for now, there are not too many advances on the terrain of the other, with the exception of mobile telephony.
And here will be part of what happens in the future. In a mobile world, where everything is consumed from the tips of your fingers, once Telecom is released to offer its full range of combo services, it could begin to see more real competition.
By then, it will be necessary to see how solid and extensive the fiber optic networks of Claro and Telefónica will be, and how they will face their future movements. Future competition will happen, more than anything, by fiber optic networks, the most efficient to transport content and data of all kinds.
The convergence will happen, as they understand in the market, for the services that the user wants to hire on a fixed previous infrastructure, rather than for the combos that the operators will offer their clients.
One and a half years after full competition is released throughout the country, what happens in terms of infrastructure deployments will be decisive to receive quality services at reasonable prices.
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