Editing Communications in Argentina (section)

==Telephone==
The network was initially developed primarily by [[ITT Corporation|ITT]], and grew following the system's nationalization in 1948 and the creation of the [[ENTel]] [[State enterprise]]. Its limitations notwithstanding, ENTel gave Argentines the widest access to phone service in Latin America.<ref>''Encyclopædia Britannica. Book of the Year 1992.'' Statistical appendix: Argentina.</ref> Following ENTel's [[privatization]] in 1990, a new [[Telephone numbers in Argentina|numbering plan]] was enacted, and the number of lines grew to cover the majority of households. A sizable minority of households, do not have land line telephone service, however. The growth of the [[mobile telephone]] market since the beginning of the [[Argentine economy|economic recovery]] in 2003 has been impressive, with new customers now preferring a comparatively cheap cellular phone to land line household service.

As of January 2010, there are 9.2 million land lines, 50 million cellular phones and 143,000 public phones in the country.<ref name=INDEC>[http://www.indec.mecon.gov.ar/nuevaweb/cuadros/14/esp_02_10.pdf INDEC] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110716144727/http://www.indec.mecon.gov.ar/nuevaweb/cuadros/14/esp_02_10.pdf |date=2011-07-16 }}</ref> The domestic telephone trunk network is served by microwave radio relay and a domestic [[communications satellite|satellite]] system with 40 earth stations. It carries a monthly traffic of about 1.3 billion local calls, 400 million inter-city calls and around 24 million outgoing international calls.<ref name=INDEC/>

International communications employ satellite earth stations - 3 Intelsat (Atlantic Ocean); two international gateways near Buenos Aires; Atlantis II [[submarine communications cable|submarine cable]] (1999).
This system is largely replaced with a domestic fiber optic ring connecting the main cities (actually the main central offices). This link runs at 2.5&nbsp;Gbit/s. From these head central offices, local calls are routed through 10&nbsp;Gbit/s fiber optic links, or 3 × 155&nbsp;Mbit/s microwave links. These links are spaced at about 30&nbsp;km. Some of these links (the ones serving smaller towns) are spaced at 60&nbsp;km and this makes communications unreliable in certain weather conditions.

According to a report released in January 2006 by [[National Institute of Statistics and Census of Argentina|INDEC]], mobile phone lines increased by 68.8% during 2005. Eleven million mobile phones were sold that year and, by then, these serviced three-quarters of the population over 14. A growing minority of users are children under 14, something that has raised concern and debate in Argentine society.<ref>[http://www.clarin.com/diario/2006/02/01/elpais/p-01301.htm ''Clarín'' (1 Feb 2006)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090812134943/http://www.clarin.com/diario/2006/02/01/elpais/p-01301.htm |date=12 August 2009 }} {{in lang|es}}</ref><ref>[http://www.clarin.com/diario/2005/09/21/um/m-01009162.htm ''Clarín'' (21 Sep 2005)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210411024958/https://www.clarin.com/diario/2005/09/21/um/m-01009162.htm |date=11 April 2021 }} {{in lang|es}}</ref> A private study conducted by ''Investigaciones Económicas Sectoriales'' (IES), covering January–October 2006, found a 51.2% growth compared to the same period of 2005; by December 2007, the number of these units (40 million) exceeded Argentina's total population. Most of the phones (almost 90%) are imported from Brazil or Mexico.<ref>http://www.notiexpress.com.ar/notas.asp?notaid=84108 {{dead link |date=July 2014}}</ref> The monthly volume of calls made with these units (over 4.6 billion) more than doubles the number made on land lines; a further 6 billion [[text message]]s are sent, monthly.<ref name=INDEC/>

===Companies===
In the 1990s the Argentine telephone system (which was formerly property of a state-owned company, ENTEL) was sold to two private corporations looking to invest in the local market: [[Telefónica]], a [[Telecommunications company|telco]] from [[Spain]], and [[Telecom Argentina]], owned by [[Telecom Italia]] and the Argentine [[Werthein family]]. The country was divided in two zones, within which one of the companies was the exclusive provider of the service (a state-sanctioned [[monopoly]]).

The service was then deregulated in several steps, first allowing the participation of other companies to provide international phone call services, then mobile services and finally the domestic service.

Telecom has a subsidiary [[Internet service provider]], Arnet. Other ISPs, such as Flash (property of the Clarín group), hire the facilities of Telecom and Telefónica.

Several newcomer companies in the telephone market (2005) offer high-speed [[broadband access]], [[Voice over IP]] and other services to a restricted market group (businesses and high-level residential users).