At the end of March, and after 15 months from the implementation of number portabilitythe average price of the contracts offered by the three mobile telephone operators (Antel, Claro and Movistar) dropped 16%according to data from the Communications Services Regulatory Unit (Ursec).
Ursec reported that the average price of the monthly contract in March 2023 was $908.33, from $1,079.67 in December 2021.
The regulator’s analysis considered the mobile phone plans offered by the three companies, with prices and services in gigabytes that are comparable to each other. That is, plans that have a current monthly value between $825 and $960, and that as of December 2021 offered performance in GB in the range of 10 GB to 40 GB; which currently offer yields ranging between 60 GB and 100 GB.
To reach the conclusions, the plans in force in December 2021 (prior to the implementation of number portability that took place on January 12 of this year) were compared with the prices and benefits in force in the months of March, June, September and December 2022, and March 2023.
On the other hand, the average price paid for GB in the selected plans had significant variations, with a decrease of 80%. In December 2021 the value of the GB was $54.5, compared to $11.27 in March 2023.
Meanwhile, andl Calculation of the average performance in GB of the selected plans shows that significant variations were also registered, with increases of 225%.
“The analysis of the aforementioned price variations is observed in the framework of the implementation of number portability, which could be indicating that the effects shown may be associated with greater competition generated from this phenomenon; without prejudice to the fact that there could be some other competitive strategy on the part of the operators that could coexist concomitantly with number portability”, says the official report.
