Development of Telephone Communication

Special 25 years of Management. At the beginning of the nineties, only 3% of households had a landline and the cell phone just appeared. Now the fixed line has fallen into disuse with the explosion of 30 million cell phones in the Peruvian market. It was a dream to have him at home and now everyone has it in his pocket: the evolution of telephony It was a dream to have him at home and now everyone has it in his pocket: the evolution of telephony The world of communications has changed radically in Peru in the last 25 years. Until the beginning of the nineties it was necessary to wait months to access a fixed telephone line. ‘When the phone (landline) finally arrived at your house, it was like when the light came on for the first time in your town, it cost a lot, about $ 2,000 to have a line, but even when you had the money, you could necessarily have the service, since there were waiting lists and it could take up to five years, ‘recalls Liliana Ruiz, president of the consultancy Alterna Perú. Therefore, at that time the penetration of fixed telephony was only 3% of households, especially rural. While the use of cell phones was still insignificant. A turning point for this situation was the privatization of the Peruvian Telephone Company, which was acquired by the Spanish Telefónica. ‘At that time Telefónica was not yet world-class, but driven by criteria of business efficiency, that already made a radical difference with respect to what we had before, and investment commitments were made, so that was a disruptive milestone that many of us remember. from that time, says Carlos Huamán, CEO of DN Consultores. The second break point occurred in 1998 with the change of regulation under the famous slogan ‘the caller pays.

Before 1998, the one who paid was the one who received the call, so anyone who had a mobile phone had the fear of being called, Huamán notes. After that began the massification of mobile telephony, changing the lives of people, both in urban and especially rural areas. To date there are already more than 30 million cell phones nationwide, with a penetration in 80% of homes. While the landlines line the 4 million, with a penetration of 10%. Why this difference? ‘Many households no longer ask for landlines because they will not use them, nor do they need them in rural areas, but it is very important to have a cell phone,’ says Liliana Ruiz. Through smartphones and internet access, banking transactions can now be carried out. But this year will begin to operate the system of ‘electronic money’, through which you can make money transfers through a simple cell phone and without having access to the Internet. In recent years, two new operators, Bitel and Entel have arrived, which have driven strong competition to Telefónica and Claro. With this, analysts expect rates to continue to fall and improve the quality of service. What can we expect from mobile telephony in the coming years? Carlos Huamán emphasizes that the challenge for the next five years is to look for technologies that help citizens access more services. ‘For example, electronic government, I would like to pay my taxes and municipal procedures here (by cell phone.) Access to classes from universities in another country, etc.