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Telecom

The telecommunications sector in Ecuador was deemed of national security and interest, and therefore owned and operated entirely by the government until 1998 when modernization reforms allowed the privatization of certain telecom services, such as mobile phones, satellite communications, internet, and other value added services, now provided by a variety of companies under concession contracts with the telecom authorities. It is expected that by 2002, all telecom services will be provided by private companies, including regular telephone access.

Ecuador has one of the lowest telephone penetration rates in South America ; only 7 telephone lines are available per 100 people. Almost 90% of telephone lines are located in urban areas. Public telephone services are provided mainly by the cellular phone companies Bellsouth and Porta, with cabins located in gas stations and outside of major shopping centers. You need to purchase a Bell South or Porta calling card to access the cabin telephone services. The price of a card varies from USD $10-50. The price of a local phone call is USD 0.2c/minute, and regional calls are USD 0.3c/minute. A call to the U.S. can cost you an average of USD 60c/minute and to Europe the cost is aprox. USD $1/minute.

Public internet access is available through internet coffee shops (cyber-cafés) which have emerged in the past two years. There are over 400 internet cafés nationwide and in every major city you can easily find one close to hotels, and in some cases, in the hotels themselves. The average price of an hour of internet access is USD $1. These internet cafés also offer other office related services such as computer access, copy machines, faxes, etc.