AT&T To Invest in Argentina
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) - U.S. telecommunications giant AT&T Corp. (NYSE:AWE - news) will invest $500 million in Argentina as part of a five-year, $2.5-billion push into Latin America, officials said Thursday.
The first phase of the company's regional strategy consists of launching service in 20 of South America's largest cities, said Patricio Northland, head of AT&T's Latin American unit.
AT&T generally will provide a full range of high-speed telecommunications services to corporations rather than to consumers as it does in the U.S.
In Argentina, AT&T will invest $500 million over five years building a network of fiber optic cable and wireless technology, eventually connecting 40 cities.
The Argentine investment will create 2,000 new direct jobs and another 8,000 indirect jobs, Northland said.
Recent telecommunication regulatory changes spurred AT&T's investment in Argentina, he added.
In November, Argentina will open its telecommunications market to competition. Current providers, owned by some of Europe's biggest telecom companies, have complained the rules are too favorable to new competitors, most of which are expected to come from the United States.
AT&T is in the process of creating AT&T Latin America, which will become a separate, publicly traded unit. In AT&T Latin America, the company will round up assets in Chile, Colombia, Peru, Brazil and Argentina that it has acquired over the last year.
Northland said the company doesn't feel it is imperative to expand into other, smaller Latin American countries, although he said that it may consider places like Uruguay or Paraguay if the right opportunity arose.
But he said AT&T would like to offer more services in Mexico as well as Venezuela. |
