![ENTel Argentina - Logo](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bd/ENTel_Argentina_-_Logo.svg)
The ''Empresa Nacional de Telecomunicaciones'' (National Telecommunications Enterprise, or ENTel) was an Argentine state owned company which had the monopoly on public telecommunications in the country until its
privatization
Privatization (also privatisation in British English) can mean several different things, most commonly referring to moving something from the public sector into the private sector. It is also sometimes used as a synonym for deregulation when ...
in 1990.
Overview
It was originally set-up in 1948 during the government of President
Juan Perón
Juan Domingo Perón (, , ; 8 October 1895 – 1 July 1974) was an Argentine Army general and politician. After serving in several government positions, including Minister of Labour and Vice President of a military dictatorship, he was elected P ...
,
nationalizing
Nationalization (nationalisation in British English) is the process of transforming privately-owned assets into public assets by bringing them under the public ownership of a national government or state. Nationalization usually refers to pri ...
all the assets and services of the private companies that had operated Argentina's telephone services until that point.
On creation, the unit was originally known as ''Teléfonos del Estado'' (State Telephones). In 1957, this was changed to ENTel, the name it retained until its dissolution, apart from a brief interval in 1960, when it was known as the ''Empresa Nacional de Teléfonos'' (National Telephone Company).
ENTel oversaw an expansion and modernisation of the country's telecommunications, but with arrival of the
military dictatorship
A military dictatorship is a dictatorship in which the military exerts complete or substantial control over political authority, and the dictator is often a high-ranked military officer.
The reverse situation is to have civilian control of the m ...
of 1976-83 began a period of stagnation which had an adverse effect on the quality of service and on waiting lists for service and repairs, to the point that to get a phone line had to wait up to 15 years. The
Raúl Alfonsín
Raúl Ricardo Alfonsín (12 March 1927 – 31 March 2009) was an Argentine lawyer and statesman who served as President of Argentina from 10 December 1983 to 8 July 1989. He was the first democratically elected president after more than ...
administration attempted to modernize and expand service at ENTel with the Megatel plan, though the effort was ultimately hampered by the company's financial difficulties, which included losses of half a million
dollars
Dollar is the name of more than 20 currencies. They include the Australian dollar, Brunei dollar, Canadian dollar, Hong Kong dollar, Jamaican dollar, Liberian dollar, Namibian dollar, New Taiwan dollar, New Zealand dollar, Singapore dollar, U ...
daily, and debts of over US$370 million.
[''Clarín''. February 12, 1989.]
Access to telephone service in Argentina remained low in comparison with nations of similar income level, with around 3.5 million lines for 8.5 million households, as well as antiquated, as seven out of eight units were
rotary phones.
[''Argentina: From Insolvency to Growth''. World Bank Press, 1993.] The company, in 1990, was among the first proposed for privatization during the government of President
Carlos Menem
Carlos Saúl Menem (2 July 1930 – 14 February 2021) was an Argentine lawyer and politician who served as the President of Argentina from 1989 to 1999. Ideologically, he identified as a Peronist and supported economically liberal policies. H ...
.
Privatization
![Fixed-phone-subscriptions-per-100-people-argentina-1975-1999](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/93/Fixed-phone-subscriptions-per-100-people-argentina-1975-1999.png)
ENTel was privatised by being split into two companies: ''Sociedad Licenciataria Norte S.A.'' and ''Sociedad Licenciataria Sur S.A.''. These, in turn, were sold to
France Télécom
Orange S.A. (), formerly France Télécom S.A. (stylized as france telecom) is a French multinational corporation, multinational telecommunications corporation. It has 266 million customers worldwide and employs 89,000 people in France, and 5 ...
and
Telefónica de España (both
State enterprise
A state-owned enterprise (SOE) is a government entity which is established or nationalised by the ''national government'' or ''provincial government'' by an executive order or an act of legislation in order to earn profit for the governmen ...
s themselves, at the time) during a 1990 bidding process presided over by Menem's appointed receiver,
María Julia Alsogaray
María Julia Alsogaray (October 8, 1942 – September 24, 2017) was an Argentine politician and engineer convicted in 2004 for financial crimes against the state.
Biography
The second of three children of socialite Edith Gay and conservative poli ...
. Upon their transfer, these entities became known as
Telecom Argentina
Telecom Argentina S.A. is the major local telephone company for the northern part of Argentina, including the whole of the city of Buenos Aires. Briefly known as ''Sociedad Licenciataria Norte S.A.'', it quickly changed its name, and is usually kn ...
and
Telefónica de Argentina, respectively. The total value of the sale reached US$7.3 billion, and included the retirement of US$5 billion in
foreign debt
A country's gross external debt (or foreign debt) is the liabilities that are owed to nonresidents by residents. The debtors can be governments, corporations or citizens. External debt may be denominated in domestic or foreign currency. It incl ...
.
[
Purchasing a divided national phone market along roughly equal sides of a north-south line, each company was given an initial, 7 year monopoly beginning November 8, 1990. At the same time, other companies were given exclusive licences for international long distance, ]telex
The telex network is a station-to-station switched network of teleprinters similar to a Public switched telephone network, telephone network, using telegraph-grade connecting circuits for two-way text-based messages. Telex was a major method of ...
and cellular phone service. ENTel remained in existence for a number of years as a residuary body, running off existing contracts and completing the details of its sale.
References
{{reflist
Telecommunications companies of Argentina
Telecommunications companies established in 1946
Telecommunications companies disestablished in 1990
Argentine companies established in 1946
1990 disestablishments in Argentina