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Fintech banking on regulatory overhaul that would allow telcos to offer TV services.
Telecom Argentina’s new owner Fintech is keen to roll out pay TV services, it emerged this week, but a long-awaited change in regulation is needed first.
Fintech, owned by Mexican businessman David Martinez, last week finally closed its US$960 million acquisition of 68% of Sofora, Telecom Argentina’s holding company, from Telecom Italia.
In a report by El Economista on Monday, Martinez said he plans to invest heavily in Telecom Argentina’s networks and offer bundles of fixed, mobile and TV services.
However, that would see Telecom Argentina enter into competition against cable TV operators, which is still currently prohibited under Argentine law.
Argentina’s government recently began merging its telco watchdog, the Autoridad Federal de las Tecnologías de la Información y las Comunicaciones (AFTIC), and its media watchdog the Autoridad Federal de Servicios de Comunicación Audiovisual (AFSCA), into a single regulator, Ente Nacional de Comunicaciones (ENACOM).
The new regulatory regime is widely expected to overhaul the rules so that telcos can compete in the pay TV market, and while the government is keen to push ahead, it is unclear exactly when the changes will happen.
According to El Economista, until that happens, Martinez plans to offer video-on-demand (VoD) over the Internet.
"Fintech wants to turn Telecom Argentina into the main player in the telco business," Martinez said, in the report.
