Mexican telecoms giant America Movil’s hopes of finally launching DTH services in Uruguay have been dashed once again at the hands of the country’s government.
The group’s Uruguayan unit Claro was set to launch satellite TV later this year, after…
Mexican telecoms giant America Movil’s hopes of finally launching DTH services in Uruguay have been dashed once again at the hands of the country’s government.
The group’s Uruguayan unit Claro was set to launch satellite TV later this year, after an administrative court revoked a 2009 government decree that had annulled a DTH licence it received just months before.
However, apparent questions over the exact ownership structure of Claro have recently led the government to revoke this DTH licence yet again.
America Movil told SatelliteFinance that its next steps remained unclear, as local reports suggested the group was considering a lawsuit to claim compensation for damages and losses.
“America Movil hasn’t been notified officially about this decision, and it is evaluating the next steps in relation with the resolution that was made public last Sunday [12 May],” said a spokesperson.
Uruguay’s previous 2009 ban was seen as a move to protect state-owned telecoms incumbent Antel, which has a monopoly on fixed telephony and broadband services.
The decision to once again shoot down Claro’s Uruguayan satellite efforts could also have implications for Spain’s Telefonica, which had also been looking to provide the services through its Movistar subsidiary.
Jose Otero, president of Signals Telecom Consulting, said: “[President Jose] Mujica’s decision seems to be an excuse to ban Claro from providing DTH, while sending a strong message to Movistar that it won’t be receiving a DTH license either.”
Telefonica was unable to comment before the press deadline.
Otero also warned that efforts to protect small local cable TV operators by preventing more DTH players from entering the market could eventually back-fire, causing “many impediments for the normal growth” of Antel’s pay-TV business.
A separate presidential decree at the end of last year imposed a 25% market cap on nationwide pay-TV services, with a 35% limit on specific localities.
The country has around 540,000 pay-TV subscribers, representing around 50% household penetration.
Argentina’s Cablevision has the largest share of around 16%, followed by US-based DTH giant DirecTV with 11.2%. Other players include Montecable, Nuevo Siglo, TCC and Multisenal.
