Living in Peru : your everyday companion

Living in Peru
Israel J. Ruiz

The war between Spain's Telefonica and Mexico's Telmex to attract the highest number of mobile telephone, land line, internet and cable customers has spilled onto the streets, reported Expreso daily.

People using public telephones throughout the country will also benefit from the struggle between the two companies.

Calling a cellular phone in Peru was a luxury several years ago; with more competition, that is changing.

When Mexican tycoon Carlos Slim's company entered Peru in 2004 it began charging payphone users S/. 0.50 for forty seconds of conversation while Telefonica del Peru charged the same amount for 43 seconds of use.

The Spanish company recently upped the stakes, however.

Near the end of May, the company launched a new campaign in which it will charge S/. 0.30 for the first thirty seconds of conversation and twenty more cents for every additional twenty seconds.

Until now, payphone users had to deposit at least S/. 0.50 to call a cellular phone. Now, however, the same calls will cost S/. 0.30

According to the president of Telefonica del Peru, it was not possible to decrease the cost of a phone call to a mobile phone any further.