CDG congratulates CoTeCal on launching CDMA450 in Argentina

October 5, 2006

On September 21st, the CDMA Development Group (CDG) congratulated Argentinean cooperative telecom operator CoTeCal (Cooperativa Telefonica de Calafate Limitada) on becoming the first commercial CDMA450 network operator in Argentina and the second in the Western Hemisphere, after Peruvian rural operator Valtron. Using CDMA450, CoTeCal is supplying fixed local telephony, Internet access and other value-added data access services to the districts of El Calafate and El Chalten in the province of Santa Cruz, which lie deep in the Patagonia of southern Argentina.

"The CDG applauds CoTeCal's deployment of one of the world's most advanced telecommunications networks to deliver affordable voice and Internet connectivity to the citizens living in Argentina's Patagonia," said Perry LaForge, executive director of the CDG. "This deployment demonstrates CDMA450's power and flexibility towards addressing the telecom expansion and growth needs within a very important tourism development zone that covers sparsely populated rural area and expansive national parks."

Using the ZTE CDMA2000 solution that operates in lower 450 MHz frequency band, CoTeCal is able to effectively and economically offer wireless telephony and Internet services to the district of El Calafate, which is an area in the Patagonia that is surrounded by large mountains and the famous glacier landmark "Perito Moreno." In a corridor of approximately 160 km in length and 40-70 km in width, CDMA450 is reaching areas that were not in the original deployment plan, but due to the inherent propagation characteristics of the technology users in the region are enjoying excellent signal coverage. With only three macro base stations and one micro base station, CoTeCal is providing ubiquitous coverage between downtown El Calafate, the airport, the highway to Roca Lake where the glacier is located, the expansive cattle grazing farms known as "estancias," and the surrounding national parks.

CoTeCal operates another CDMA450 base station that was donated to the Argentinean government by Huawei in El Chalten, a tourist location in one of the continental ice areas within the Andean mountains. Although the town only has around 300 inhabitants, the system provides telephone service and Internet access to between 500 to 1000 people per day during the peak summer tourist season.

"Thanks to CDMA450 our cooperative is able to fulfill its mission of connecting people through communications in the plains and corridors of the Andean mountains," remarked Patricio Iacaruso, president of CoTeCal. "We are bringing together the entire population that resides or visits El Calafate and El Chalten through telephone and Internet connectivity. This includes the ranchers in the estancias, the local citizens in the pueblos, the tourists that visit the landmarks, the local tourist industry, and the national and local officials that serve and protect the national parks, its visitors and local residents, such as the police, gendarmerie, firefighters, civil defense, transportation and national park administrators."

CoTeCal is bringing advanced telecommunications services to a diverse terrain and locality that has over 20,000 inhabitants that welcome a large number of tourists every year. With the robust technology and excellent propagation characteristics of CDMA450, the productivity and lifestyle of the citizens in this region will improve and they will benefit both economically and socially.