Paraguay mobile operators Personal, Claro and Vox have requested telecoms regulator Conatel reject Tigo’s recently announced acquisition of Cablevision Paraguay. The three operators claim that the merger would create an “unconstitutional monopoly” that would violate regulations and generate disadvantages for end-users. The merger is expected to set up a “superoperator with monopolistic and dominant features, which is not going to do any good to any sector of the telecommunications industry, let alone the population", Personal’s Francisco Gutierrez told local newspaper ABC Digital.
According to Gutierrez, the acquisition violates various law articles and regulations, mainly related to telecommunications spectrum and anti-competitive behavior. If the acquisition is approved, around 50 MHz of spectrum would be owned by a single operator, namely Tigo Paraguay, Gutierrez added. This is expected to provide an advantage that cannot be equaled by any of the other cable or telephone operators, as this spectrum is not scheduled for any auction yet. "There is no possibility that, through this license, we may own more than 20 MHz of spectrum (at best). We will be competing against an operator that may soon own 50 MHz of spectrum and can put to work much earlier, so that the day we have access to more spectrum (which will not be of the same size) it will already be too late.", Gutierrez said. The 50 MHz spectrum in the 2.6 GHz frequency band enables provision of internet and data services.
