Pay TV and Internet service provider DirecTV (Grupo Wethein) is considering the launch of a new Satellite Internet service throughout Latin America. The new service is intended to supplement the company’s fiber optic Internet strategy (FTTH) already being implemented in several countries in the region through the rental of third parties’ networks. The news was revealed some days ago by Darío Werthein, President of Vrio, the division in charge of the operation of DirecTV, Sky Brasil and DGo in Latin America, during an interview with Apertura, an Argentine magazine owned by El Cronista Comercial newspaper.
In response to TAVI Latam’s inquiry, Vrio External and Regulatory Affairs Manager Marcos Anzorreguy has asserted that the project does exist, but it is still “under analysis”. “The idea is to launch it on a regional scale as a supplement to our fiber optic service,” he noted.
“We will keep providing all the services we offer today and we will gradually add new ones. The diversity of geographies where we operate within Latin America demands flexibility as to the services we offer,” Werthein explained to Apertura.
According to information originally revealed by Grupo Convergencia news agency, DirecTV has ceased to provide its Internet service using LTE technology in the Argentine province of Mendoza, in line with the company’s determination to move forward with its fiber optic Internet strategy and its project to introduce Satellite Internet. TAVI Latam has found out that the company has been assessing the project for some time, given the high cost of the service and the impossibility to guarantee a reasonable quality standard, and that the recent acceleration is due to the fact that the operator has been required to return the spectrum by Argentina’s regulatory agency (Enacom).