Argentine justice confirmed that phone calls to the Falklands/Malvinas Islands must be billed as local calls and not long distance. Argentine telecoms companies Telefonica and Telecom said that this was normal procedure, however a client presented a consumers' appeal claiming a call to the Falklands had been labeled as international instead of domestic.
A local tribunal from the Argentine northern province of Jujuy (bordering Bolivia) ruled against the telephone company for having billed a call to the Falklands/Malvinas Islands as international, instead of domestic, adding the ruling must be published in the largest circulation provincial and national dailies, pointing out that the phone link with the Islands must be charged as a domestic long distance.
Despite all the negative news on government restrictions imposed on the Argentine economy and the shortage of hard currency, the country's Merval Index has skyrocketed almost 100% this year, the highest of any stock market in the world. It includes many of the largest companies in the country such as Telecom Argentina and Energy Petrobras, along with banks and a steel maker.
The Argentine government signed the decree on Thursday formalising the decision for the state to begin to control a part of the mobile phone sector, a measure announced on Wednesday by Planning Minister Julio De Vido.
Argentina announced the government has rejected the proposals made by bidders seeking to gain a public contract to manage up to 25% of the 3G telecommunications frequency nationwide. Instead the federal government satellite and communications company Arsat will get 20% of the available 3G spectrum.