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Entel
Entel (Acronym for Empresa Nacional de TELecomunicaciones) is a Chilean telecommunications company and Telefonica CTC's fiercest competitor. To foreigners, Entel is best known for the 127 meter high Torre Entel (Entel Tower) that rises high above central Santiago and constitutes one of the city's main landmarks.
History
Started in 1964 for the need seen by the Chilean government at the time to have a company offering long distance, improve telecommunications quality within the country and build a network trunk to replace the old infrastructure badly damaged by a earthquake.
Coincident with this mission, Entel installed microwave networks in almost the entire national territory and built in 1968 a satellite station in Longovilo 100 miles south west of Santiago, the first in Latin America.
Entel's activities initially were data transmission and communications service, long distance telecommunications according to the wishes of CORFO. The company built the Longovilo satellite station and the National Center for Telecommunications, popularly known as Torre Entel in Santiago, which functions as the central node. After its privatization it was licensed to operate domestic services: cell phone, Entel PCS and land line, known as Entel Phone. It was also offered Internet connectivity.
Entel's privatization began in 1986 and was finalized in 1992. The following year, through a series of transactions, the Group Chilquinta acquired the 19.99% ownership of the company. In June 1996, the Board of Entel shareholders authorized an increase in capital that allowed the entry of Telecom Italia, which acquired another 19.99%, sharing control with the Group Chilquinta through of a shareholder pact.
During the first half of 1999, there was a new capital increase of $215 million. This capital contribution was made by the Quinenco group, property of Entel. In March 2001, Telecom Italia bought their shares of Chilquinta and Matte group, reaching a 54.76% stake.
Since its privatization, Entel's stock has always been one of the greatest movers in the Chilean stock market. During this period they entered into property pension funds, which at the end of 2004 comprised 25.6% of the shares of the Company. Additionally, some international funds and a large number of shareholders have acquired ownership shares of the Company.
In 2005 Entel Group rests with the Chilean group Almendral through Investment Altel staying with 54.76 percent of the property.
In 2006 ENTEL transferred its entire share in Americatel Central America SA and their direct and indirect subsidiaries, BVI Holding Isela Inc. under contract Stock Purchase Agreement ( "SPA"). The sale was based on an assessment of the entire stock of Americatel Centroamerica SA
Entel is a corporation with several subsidiaries:
Entel PCS, one of the three Mobile Operators in Chile
Entel Data Center
Entel Call Center
Entel Internet
More information in Entel Web Site
Entel PCS
Entel PCS s a Mobile Operator. It has about 40% of the market share. It was the first American operator to launch a GSM in 1997. Since the year 2000 the Entel PCS network supports GPRS and since 2003 it supports EDGE.
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This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article Entel
