ANTEL is Uruguay

Uruguay

Uruguay ,officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay,sometimes the Eastern Republic of Uruguay; ) is a country in the southeastern part of South America. It is home to some 3.5 million people, of whom 1.8 million live in the capital Montevideo and its metropolitan area...

's government-owned

Government-owned corporation

A government-owned corporation, state-owned company, state-owned entity, state enterprise, publicly owned corporation, government business enterprise, or parastatal is a legal entity created by a government to undertake commercial activities on behalf of an owner government...

 telecommunications company, founded in 1974. The company has a monopoly

Monopoly

A monopoly exists when a specific person or enterprise is the only supplier of a particular commodity...

 of landline

Landline

A landline was originally an overland telegraph wire, as opposed to an undersea cable. Currently, landline refers to a telephone line which travels through a solid medium, either metal wire or optical fibre, as distinguished from a mobile cellular line, where transmission is via radio waves...

 telephony

Telephony

In telecommunications, telephony encompasses the general use of equipment to provide communication over distances, specifically by connecting telephones to each other....

 and data services in the country. They also provide mobile phone services

Mobile network operator

A mobile network operator , also known as mobile phone operator , carrier service provider , wireless service provider, wireless carrier, or cellular company, or mobile network carrier is a telephone company that provides services for mobile phone subscribers.One essential...

 (in direct competition with Claro

Claro (mobile phone network)

Claro is the largest mobile phone network in the Americas. It is part of the Mexican telecom group América Móvil which is one of the four largest mobile phone network operators in the world, with more than 200 million customers...

 and Movistar

Movistar

Movistar is a major Spanish mobile phone operator owned by Telefónica Móviles. It operates in Spain and in many Latin American countries. It is the largest carrier in Spain with 22 million customers and 41.58% of market share. Its principal competitor in Latin America is America Movil...

) and Internet

Internet service provider

An Internet service provider is a company that provides access to the Internet. Access ISPs directly connect customers to the Internet using copper wires, wireless or fiber-optic connections. Hosting ISPs lease server space for smaller businesses and host other people servers...

-related services, being the only provider of ADSL and land-line data services because of the monopoly situation.

Failed privatization and Monopoly status

In 1992, under the presidency of Luis Alberto Lacalle

Luis Alberto Lacalle

Luis Alberto Lacalle de Herrera is a Uruguayan lawyer and politician who served as President of Uruguay from 1990 to 1995.-Background:His mother, María Hortensia de Herrera de Lacalle, was the daughter of the Blanco political leader Luis Alberto de Herrera, after whom Lacalle was named. Luis...

, a privatization of all government-owned companies was attempted. However, a later referendum

Referendum

A referendum is a direct vote in which an entire electorate is asked to either accept or reject a particular proposal. This may result in the adoption of a new constitution, a constitutional amendment, a law, the recall of an elected official or simply a specific government policy. It is a form of...

 revoked the privatizations law, being Pluna

PLUNA

PLUNALíneas Aéreas Uruguayas S.A. is the flag carrier of Uruguay, headquartered in Carrasco, Montevideo. It operates scheduled services within South America, as well as unscheduled cargo and charter services, with its main hub being Carrasco International Airport near Montevideo.- Foundation :The...

 the only company to be successfully privatized to Varig

Varig

VARIG was the first airline founded in Brazil, in 1927. From 1965 until 1990 it was Brazil's leading and almost only international airline...

. Antel enjoys a monopoly on land lines in Uruguay.

As of 2008 ANTEL's monopoly status also forbids cable operators even in larger cities, such as Montevideo, to provide data services (Internet) or voice services along with their cable service.

Telecommunications tower

Antel owns Uruguay's tallest skyscraper

Skyscraper

A skyscraper is a tall, continuously habitable building of many stories, often designed for office and commercial use. There is no official definition or height above which a building may be classified as a skyscraper...

, the Telecommunications Tower, which has 160 meters and 35 floors. It is the tallest building in the country. It was designed by architect

Architect

An architect is a person trained in the planning, design and oversight of the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to offer or render services in connection with the design and construction of a building, or group of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the...

 Carlos Ott

Carlos Ott

Carlos Ott is a Uruguayan architect who resides in Canada. He became famous when he won the first prize in 1983 for the construction of the Opéra de la Bastille in Paris, which was inaugurated on July 14, 1989...

. It is situated by the side of Montevideo

Montevideo

Montevideo is the largest city, the capital, and the chief port of Uruguay. The settlement was established in 1726 by Bruno Mauricio de Zabala, as a strategic move amidst a Spanish-Portuguese dispute over the platine region, and as a counter to the Portuguese colony at Colonia del Sacramento...

's bay

Bay

A bay is an area of water mostly surrounded by land. Bays generally have calmer waters than the surrounding sea, due to the surrounding land blocking some waves and often reducing winds. Bays also exist as an inlet in a lake or pond. A large bay may be called a gulf, a sea, a sound, or a bight...

.