The Empresa Nacional de Telecomunicaciones (National Telecommunications Enterprise, or ENTel) was an Argentine state owned company which had the monopoly on public telecommunications in the country until its privatization

Privatization

Privatization is the incidence or process of transferring ownership of a business, enterprise, agency or public service from the public sector to the private sector or to private non-profit organizations...

 in 1990.

Overview

It was originally set-up in 1948 during the government of President Juan Perón

Juan Perón

Juan Domingo Perón was an Argentine military officer, and politician. Perón was three times elected as President of Argentina though he only managed to serve one full term, after serving in several government positions, including the Secretary of Labor and the Vice Presidency...

, nationalizing

Nationalization

Nationalisation, also spelled nationalization, is the process of taking an industry or assets into government ownership by a national government or state. Nationalization usually refers to private assets, but may also mean assets owned by lower levels of government, such as municipalities, being...

 all the assets and services of the private companies that had operated Argentina's telephone services until that point.

On creation, the unit was originally known as Teléfonos del Estado (State Telephones). In 1957, this was changed to ENTel, the name it retained until its dissolution, apart from a brief interval in 1960, when it was known as the Empresa Nacional de Teléfonos (National Telephone Company).

ENTel oversaw an expansion and modernisation of the country's telecommunications, but with arrival of the military dictatorship of 1976-83 began a period of stagnation which had an adverse effect on the quality of service and on waiting lists for service and repairs. The Raúl Alfonsín

Raúl Alfonsín

Raúl Ricardo Alfonsín was an Argentine lawyer, politician and statesman, who served as the President of Argentina from December 10, 1983, to July 8, 1989. Alfonsín was the first democratically-elected president of Argentina following the military government known as the National Reorganization...

 administration attempted to modernize and expand service at ENTel with the Megatel plan, though the effort was ultimately hampered by the company's financial difficulties, which included losses of half a million dollars daily, and debts of over US$370 million.

Access to telephone service in Argentina remained low in comparison with nations of similar income level, with around 3.5 million lines for 8.5 million households, as well as antiquated, as seven out of eight units were rotary phones. The company, in 1990, was among the first proposed for privatization during the government of President Carlos Menem

Carlos Menem

Carlos Saúl Menem is an Argentine politician who was President of Argentina from 1989 to 1999. He is currently an Argentine National Senator for La Rioja Province.-Early life:...

.

Privatisation

ENTel was privatised by being split into two companies: Sociedad Licenciataria Norte S.A. and Sociedad Licenciataria Sur S.A.. These, in turn, were sold to France Télécom

France Télécom

France Telecom S.A. is the main telecommunications company in France, the third-largest in Europe and one of the largest in the world. It currently employs about 180,000 people and has 192.7 million customers worldwide . In 2010 the group had revenue of €45.5 billion...

 and Telefónica de España (both State enterprises themselves, at the time) during a 1990 bidding process presided over by Menem's appointed receiver, María Julia Alsogaray

María Julia Alsogaray

María Julia Alsogaray is an Argentine politician convicted for financial crimes against the state.-Life and times:The daughter of conservative politician Álvaro Alsogaray, she was born in Buenos Aires and became an engineer...

. Upon their transfer, these entities became known as Telecom Argentina

Telecom Argentina

Telecom Argentina is the major local telephone company for the northern part of Argentina, including the whole of the city of Buenos Aires...

 and Telefónica de Argentina, respectively. The total value of the sale reached US$7.3 billion, and included the retirement of US$5 billion in foreign debt.

Purchasing a divided national phone market along roughly equal sides of a north-south line, each company was given an initial, 7 year monopoly beginning November 8, 1990. At the same time, other companies were given exclusive licences for international long distance, telex and cellular phone service. ENTel remained in existence for a number of years as a residuary body, running off existing contracts and completing the details of its sale.