Following customer complaints of weak network strength & poor coverage, Chile's govt. has enforced a new law to enhance mobile services in the Latin American nation.
Chile's cellular network was affected by glitches in early 2006 when customers started complaining of weak signals & poor coverage, prompting the govt. to initiate an inquiry into the matter. Chilean govt. said on November 23 2006 that it would enforce a law from next week to ensure that the nation has best cellular service among all the Latin American nations, according to news published in Reuters.
As per law, cellular firms must ensure successful completion of at least 97% of calls that are made in their networks, without any signal breaks. The firms are liable for fines if they are unable to meet the target.
Pablo Bello, undersecretary of Chilean telecoms said that the target would be the toughest one for cellular firms among all Latin American nations. Studies indicate that presently Mexico has a similar success level.
A mobile industry analyst at RNCOS said, "The Chilean mobile industry has been witnessing constant growth over the past few years. High competition has led to lower access costs & comparatively high penetration levels compared to other Latin American nations."He further added, "A direct & immediate result of this is low average revenue per user (ARPU), which has reduced the overall revenues of mobile firms, hitting their mobile networks with problems of congestion & weak network strength, due to lack of sufficient investments to upgrade their networks."
Chile is among the nations with highest penetration levels of mobile phones in Latin America. It is estimated that around 12 million or 70 % of Chileans own mobile phones. Movistar (Spain's Telefonica), Entel PCS & Claro presently dominate the Chilean mobile industry.
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