Is wireless going to replace fixed-line service in Latin America?
No. But the real growth is going to be in wireless. And not just [classic] mobile telephones: We were the first ones to launch a fixed-wireless set [in Latin America]. The handset is really low-priced and also has a very low price per minute [of conversation]. The reason we can price it lower is because it’s fixed and doesn’t move around like a typical mobile phone. So if we have excess capacity in a [rural] town, we can offer service very cheaply, competing with the land-line companies. We now have more than 400,000 customers that have bought that service in our 10 countries [in Latin America]. In big parts of many countries, there’s just no service other than mobile. Q: How important is data transmission going to be in Latin America, aside from the wealthy elite and businesspeople? After all, computer penetration is very low. A: For the new mobile handsets (CDMA-1X) we have, the next generation comes with a data port, and if you have a PC, you can hook up to the Internet at 40-60 kil
