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 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 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 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 phone A rotary dial is a component of a telephone or a telephone switchboard that implements a signaling technology in telecommunications known as pulse dialing. It is used when initiating a telephone call to transmit the destination telephone number ...

s.''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

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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 Telefónica, S.A. () is a Spanish multinational telecommunications company headquartered in Madrid, Spain. It is one of the largest telephone operators and mobile network providers in the world. It provides fixed and mobile telephony, broadba ...

(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 polit ...

. 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 Telefónica, S.A. () is a Spanish multinational telecommunications company headquartered in Madrid, Spain. It is one of the largest telephone operators and mobile network providers in the world. It provides fixed and mobile telephony, broadba ...

, 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 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