Ecuador pushes carriers toward socialization
By Chris Ziegler 
posted Nov 25th 2007 5:29PM
posted Nov 25th 2007 5:29PM
Stung with apparently widespread, systematic technical problems on its cell networks, Ecuador's taking measures to clamp down on a pair of foreign firms that together control some 96 percent of the nation's market. Porta -- a unit of Mexico's America Movil -- and Telefonica's Movistar have been told that they've got a couple choices: either allow the government to snap up more control over the airwaves, improve reliability, and lower costs to consumers, or scram. Both carriers are due for renegotiation on their contracts, giving the government gobs of leverage. What's more, Porta's under official investigation for its service failures (for which it's facing sanctions) and has to have its network in tip-top shape by next month, so it's all just a little hairy at the moment. Officials are pressing the carriers to contribute one percent of their revenue to a fund set up to provide service to Ecuador's poor; we're certainly not professional negotiators here, but if we were Porta or Movistar right now, we might go ahead and agree to make that happen if we wanted to stick around.
damn i wish this would happen in the us, id love to hear that being told to tmobile and sprint nextel
I, for one, wish it won't. It's not the government's responsibility to force private companies to perform up to a certain level of expectation -- not even cell carriers.
What you say doesn't make sense in the US because there is nowhere near a monopoly in the cellular communications business. If you don't like Sprint or T-Mobile, use someone else. Just because you don't like them doesn't mean the government should punish them.
The market can determine whose service is acceptable and whose isn't, and reward or punish accordingly.
im saying that because of how coverage is in the us outside of big cities almost non existence.
you can go 10-20 miles outside of big cities and get no coverage in some area's that have large populations
while in some countries there are more area's that are covered without gaps in between
say a city is 75 square milesand is covered in cell coverage you leave out of that area the coverage may extend for about 5 or 10 miles outside of the city.
while in other countries you could have a city that is 75 square miles and coverage might extend 20-30 miles outside of the city
with the same coverage as in the city
@dcny
If there was suffiient demand for coverage in the areas that you are having a problem with, then a carrier would cover it.
A great example is the Iridium system from the 90s. Sounds like a great idea to be able to use your phone anywhere in the world without roaming or worrying about cell coverage, right? Well, to provide that service, Moto had to charge a hefty fee in order to make a profit. People decided that they were ok with thir current level of sevice after all, dead spots and all.
Coverage is not the issue. As stated by the article: "widespread, systematic technical problems"
Now you're making your argument even worse than it already was. First you wanted the government to force T-Mobile and Sprint to provide a certain level of quality in their service, and now you want the government to force T-Mobile and Sprint to extend their coverage areas. Wow. Just wow.
"im saying that because of how coverage is in the us outside of big cities almost non existence.
you can go 10-20 miles outside of big cities and get no coverage in some area's that have large populations "
What the hell? How did you possibly come to this conclusion?
I travel (by car) all the time, and it's not always on busy interstate. If there is decent population, some carrier covers it. I have NEVER been in a town in the continental US with a population over 1,000 that didn't have ANY cell phone coverage in the past 10 years.
Get a clue.
I have. Nashville, Tennessee. In the downtown area I'd have 3 bars, sure, but at home (2 blocks from an AT&T store, I might add) I'd either have just an antenna icon (on my phone it means "signal level too low for voice") or nothing. And I lived close to downtown. As soon as I got on I-65 heading south, bam, no coverage.
have you been in west virginia, montana , and maine ?
i was in an tmobile store in dc and all there phones got no more than 2 bars in the damn store
yeah!!!!!!damn i miss my country!!!!!