Telesp Celular has lodged a formal complaint with Anatel against the service advertised as ?restricted mobility? by Vésper, a fixed-line CLEC that uses wireless technology for the last mile. Gilson Rondinelli, president of Telesp Celular (a subsidiary of Portugal Telecom), says the TV ads put out by Vésper convey a distinct impression that it?s a mobile service. Vésper has leveraged this flexibility to expand its customer base, currently on 540,000. The service in question is prepaid, costing 59 reals per month (now about 20 US dollars), and accounts for 60% of the telco?s total customer base. Vésper recently launched a new fixed-line service that costs 23% less and promises to launch third-generation services (3G) in December using 1xEV-DO. This is an evolution of CDMA enabling faster data transmission (up to 2.4 Mbps). The future Portugal Telecom/Telefonica Celular joint venture will also use CDMA. Portugal Telecom CEO Miguel Horta e Costa expects 3G to take off only in late 2003 or early 2004.
Competition
