<a href=www.latintrade.com<LatinTrade.com By James Wilson • Bogota, April, 2003

Selling wireless phones the way some sell toilet paper is the challenge that Mauricio Mesa, boss of Colombia’s recently conceived third cellular operator, has set for himself.

Colombia has lagged other large Latin American countries in bringing cellular services to its 44 million people. Only 10% of the population uses a cellular phone—far behind neighbors such as Venezuela, where 27% carry a cellular phone.

But Colombia Móvil, the new company that will challenge U.S. baby bell BellSouth and Mexico’s América Móvil for a piece of the domestic market, hopes Mesa’s track record shows he can drive up cellular use dramatically with innovative marketing for the masses.

Mesa was until January president of Familia-Sancela, whose paper and sanitary products, including toilet paper, are market leaders in Colombia. The company under Mesa doubled exports since 1996. Understanding how to move basic consumer goods appealed to Colombia Móvil’s shareholders, Mesa says. “This is a mass consumer product. We use cellphones like we use toilet paper. And at the end of the day we are going to sell in the same channels,” he says. He hints that his company’s phones could soon appear on supermarket shelves.

The planned start-up of Colombia Móvil services by year end will be the biggest shake-up in cellular telecom here since regional operating licenses were first issued in 1994. Services have become concentrated in the hands of Comcel, a division of Mexico’s América Móvil, and BellSouth, creating a national duopoly.

Colombia so far has missed the wireless boom. The government belatedly offered a PCS license for auction last year, and financially pressed international operators stayed away in droves. Existing cellular license holders BellSouth and Comcel were not allowed to bid, so Colombia Móvil saw its chance. The company is owned 50-50 by two municipally owned utilities: Empresa de Telecomunicaciones de Bogota (ETB), Bogota’s phone company, and Empresas Públicas de Medellin (EPM), Medellin’s utility provider. In January Colombia Móvil secured nationwide licenses for US$56 million, a fraction of the many millions previous operators paid under a complex national auction.

The companies hope the venture will be a money spinner for the two city halls. Paulo Orozco, ETB’s president, predicts Colombia Móvil will have at least as many clients as ETB now does—2 million—within a decade. “That is very conservative. Our aim is much more ambitious,” Orozco says.

So how does Colombia Móvil intend to compete with BellSouth and América Móvil, two of the biggest names in Latin American cellphones? América Móvil’s Comcel, particularly, has been plugging keenly priced offers furiously and lifted subscriber numbers by almost 50% in 2002; it now claims two-thirds of the 4.6 million current cellular users.

The newcomer’s exact business strategy is under wraps. But Colombia Móvil will try to capitalize on its local knowledge, and on databases of phone and utility customers owned by its public-sector parents. “Obviously, as far as possible, we are going to use all the possible synergies with ETB and EPM’s sales systems,” Mesa says. That could mean offering consumers fixed-line, long distance and mobile services in a package, a fashionable offering—not yet highly successful—in many global phone markets.

But Colombia Móvil lacks direct wireless experience. “Our own know-how will help at the beginning, but we have to develop a commercial strategy that is much more aggressive than we have had so far,” says León Darío Osorio, telecom manager for the Medellin utility company. Executives promise innovative tariff schemes and contract plans for all market sectors, with both pre-paid and post-paid services. Customers can also expect call billing for seconds of use, rather than rounding-up to the nearest minute as competitors do, the company has suggested.

Attack plan. A big hint as to strategy to come: Colombia Móvil chose Global System for Mobile Communication (GSM) technology rather than a rival system, called Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA). Mesa says GSM offers more flexibility to attack different market segments because of the greater and cheaper handset range. Carlos Rodríguez, a senior analyst at Pyramid Research in Cambridge, Massachusetts, says GSM is better to reach the mass market.

There is already friction between the newcomers and incumbents. BellSouth and Comcel have complained to the government that fixed-line company EPM’s technology in some areas has allowed customers to use home phones on the move as if they were cellular handsets. The dispute remains unresolved. América Móvil recently completed purchase of a 95% stake in Colombian wireless company Celcaribe for $9.6 million from Luxembourg telecom investor Millicom International Cellular.

Despite consolidation and what will clearly be a scramble to lock down new subscribers, analysts expect that there is space for everyone. Colombia is going to be one of the fastest-growing markets, because it has a long way to go, notes Rodríguez at Pyramid. Ever the salesman, Mesa remains upbeat: “Increased penetration will make the job much easier for everyone,” he says. “It is much easier to acquire new clients than to steal clients from other people.”

<a href=washingtontimes.com<Washington Times- EDITORIAL • April 16, 2003

     The death toll of Americans fighting terror and narco-trafficking in Colombia has reached five since February 13, after a State Department coca-duster flown by an American was shot down last week. About 150 U.S. troops are still combing Colombia, looking for three Americans kidnapped in February by the most brutal terrorist group in the Western Hemisphere, the FARC.

     Colombia's narcotics and terrorism cabals are spreading violence beyond Columbia. They have been given sanctuary in Venezuela, are involved in coca cultivation in Peru, are behind some drug-related violence in Brazil and launch forays into Ecuador. This regional aspect of the Colombian problem has developed a dangerous dynamic. Eyewitnesses claim the Venezuelan military has selected which narco-terror group they are backing, and are bombing their adversaries in Colombia. Thus far, the Colombian response has been subdued. But, if such bombing continues, the situation could erupt in conflict.

     Washington has taken some key steps toward meeting the challenge. Since July 2000, the United States has given Colombia almost $2 billion to combat drug trafficking and terrorism. Last year Washington approved a trade pact for Colombia and its neighbors. But, the region also needs the United States to help coordinate a regional approach to mitigate the transnational threat.

     Colombia and its neighbors must do a better job of policing their borders to contain the narco-terrorist danger. Since resources in these countries are limited, cooperation is essential. And here, Brazil, which has warm ties with Venezuela, must intervene to convince the government of President Hugo Chavez to stop harboring terrorists.

     The United States should share its extensive customs, interdiction and border patrol expertise by holding joint training sessions with authorities from Colombia and surrounding nations. The donor countries helping Colombia must also provide the funds and know-how to bolster the country's rural development. Colombian authorities only control about 60 percent of the country. Therefore, much of the nation is a kind of no-man's land that provides the ideal habitat for terrorists.

     Before the violence in Colombia claims more American lives and causes greater regional instability, the administration should become more active in seeking solutions. Colombia's problems can't be eradicated overnight. But, with U.S. help, they can be steadily reduced.

Source

BOGOTA -(Dow Jones)- Colombian President Alvaro Uribe will travel to Venezuela April 23 to meet with that country's president, Hugo Chavez, the Uribe's office said in a statement Thursday.

The leaders will meet in San Cristobal, a town on the Venezuelan side of the two nations' border. They plan to discuss border security issues and trade as well as social and economic development, said the statement.

ADVERTISEMENT A general strike in Venezuela in December and January that sought, but failed, to oust Chavez from power, severely hurt bilateral trade between the two countries. Colombian exports to Venezuela plunged 72% in January to $35 million from $125 million in January 2002.

Also, Colombian exporters are owed more than $300 million by Venezuelan importers because foreign currency restrictions in Venezuela have made it difficult for those importers to get dollars.

-By Dan Molinski, Dow Jones Newswires; 571-600-1980; colombia@dowjones.com

URL 2003-04-02 / Reuters /

Sixteen Colombian journalists working in a region where U.S. special forces are providing anti-guerrilla training said they were fleeing to the capital Bogota on Monday after receiving death threats from gunmen, a media rights group and colleagues said.

Paris-based Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said leftist rebels and right-wing militias fighting in Colombia's four-decade-old war had separately declared the journalists in the eastern, oil-rich province of Arauca "military targets" and warned them they should leave or face being killed.

Rodrigo Avila, a correspondent for Caracol TV and one of the journalists threatened, said local radio stations in Arauca were only playing music and airing cultural programs.

"The rebels' idea is to silence the press in the capital of Arauca and unfortunately they are achieving it. We are forced to shut up and find a solution," Avila told reporters.

The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, known as the FARC, produced a list of eight journalists, while the right wing paramilitaries, known as the AUC, threatened another eight, and also named two who had previously been killed.

One of the men named, Eduardo Alfonso, was gunned down and killed two weeks ago by suspected far-right paramilitaries as he arrived for work at an Arauca radio station. His boss, Efrain Varela, was killed last year.

War-ravaged Colombia is one of the most dangerous places in the world for reporters, according to media watch groups.

President Alvaro Uribe late last year declared Arauca, a steamy area of savannas and swamps on the border with Venezuela, a special war zone, giving security forces extra powers to control movements and check identities.

The measures, which have been strongly criticized by rights groups, have had little effect on violence in the province, which has been hit by a rebel car-bombing campaign.

About 70 U.S. special forces are in Arauca province training Colombian troops to combat guerrillas and defend a key oil pipeline.

Local police say they do not have enough bodyguards to protect the threatened journalists.

"We ask the government to guarantee the security of the journalists threatened in the province of Arauca," RSF said in a news release. "The absence of journalists is an open door for more abuses."

Journalists in Arauca routinely face harassment and threats from rebels and militias fighting for control of oil proceeds and the booming drug trade.

In January, rebels held a British reporter and an American photographer hostage for almost two weeks, in a kidnapping which drew worldwide attention. Attacks on local reporters hardly ever make international headlines.

Web Reference

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) - Venezuelan soldiers exchanged gunfire with Colombian paramilitaries and bombed a zone close to the border, President Hugo Chavez said Sunday.

Chavez said Colombian paramilitaries recently "invaded Venezuelan territory" and fired on an army patrol surveying the border area. A 90-minute gun battle ensued.

"They hit a (Venezuelan) helicopter ... but they were repelled and they went back to Colombian territory," Chavez said during his weekly TV programme.

In another recent incident along the border with Colombia, Chavez said he ordered the armed forces to drop bombs near where Colombian insurgents were hiding.

"I said to bomb the area, not on direct targets but over the adjacent area so as to warn them and establish a security cordon," Chavez said. "We did it, it was effective, and they withdrew toward Colombian territory."

Chavez's left-wing government has often been criticised for not doing enough to defend the 2,200-kilometre (1,370-mile) border with Colombia during its four years in power. It has also been accused of supporting leftist Colombian guerrilla groups, a charge Chavez denies.

Colombia's civil war, which has raged for 38 years, pits leftist rebels against right-wing paramilitaries. Violence associated with the conflict kills about 3,500 people every year.

Venezuelan Vice President Jose Vicente Rangel alleged Saturday that Colombia offers impunity to paramilitary groups on its side of the border. He rejected allegations that Colombian guerrillas had established bases on Venezuelan territory.

Earlier this month Venezuela said it would add more troops to the 5,000 already stationed along the border.