Hondutel

Hondutel (or the Empresa Hondureña de Telecomunicaciones), is Honduras' government owned telecommunications company.

History

The organization was created on May 7, 1976, as an autonomous organization responsible for the moderization of Honduras' telecommunication system, and to achieve a better efficiency in its administration and profitability.

Recent Milestones

On June 19 2007, President Manuel Zelaya and the current management of Hondutel launched its first of a series of Personal Communications Services (PCS) networks.

Tegucel

Tegucel has come to be a balancing force concerning low cost prices on mobile services, which have been dominated and controlled by foreign monopolies such as Luxembourg's Millicom and Mexico's juggernaut American Mobile. Tegucel is intended to become a cost-effective alternative to the current services offered by the other wireless operators, providing rates as low as three times of those charged by the two foreign monopolies. Tegucel and its sister company Sulacel provide free text messaging and guarantees the voice quality of its service using EFR (Enhanced Full Rate) and avoiding the use of half rate codecs and oversubscription on its network.

Sulacel

On October 19, 2007, President of Honduras Manuel Zelaya and Hondutel successfully launched Sulacel, a PCS network for the Honduran Northwest's Sula Valley including the cities of San Pedro Sula, La Lima, Villanueva and surrounding communities.

Ceibacel

Hondutel launched it's third PCS operation with Ceibacel on December 14,2007 in La Ceiba. With Ceibacel Hondutel completed its coverage over the three biggest cities in the country, providing benefits such as free SMS among the three networks and rates as 5 times as lower than their competitors.

Further Expansion

It is estimated that the complete Hondutel PCS network, potentially referred to as "Honducel", will begin operations in 2008.

Controversies

Journalists charged

Controversy over alleged corruption, called grey traffic (tráfico gris) became main news in 2007 [ [http://www.laprensahn.com/ediciones/2007/09/15/ordenan_a_chimirri_dar_datos Ordenan a Chimirri dar datos] ] after several journalists including Renato Alvarez were prosecuted for speaking about the corruption [ [http://www.laprensahn.com/ediciones/2007/10/04/inadmisible_querella Inadmisible querella] ] .

YouTube

An unknown individual posted various recordings of high government officials on YouTube, including of the President Mel Zelaya, implicating them in a corruption scandal concerning Hondutel [ [http://www.laprensa.hn/ediciones/2007/11/08/casi_300_mil_visitas_a_las_grabaciones Casi 300 mil visitas a las grabaciones] ] . After Zelaya made a complaint to the police they launched an investigation to find who had made the recordings, which are considered espionage and a violation of Honduras' privacy laws, that included searching the mansion of the now ex-CEO of Hondutel, Marcelo Chimirri and searching both his office at Hondutel and those of other members of staff [ [http://www.laprensa.hn/ediciones/2007/11/10/policia_catea_vivienda_de_chimirri Policía catea vivienda de Chimirri] ] , the former was an action condemned by Zelaya [ [http://www.laprensa.hn/ediciones/2007/11/11/zelaya_condena_accion_policial_en_allanamiento_de_casa_de_chimirri Zelaya condena acción policial en allanamiento de casa de Chimirri] ] . On November 14. As of December 1, 2007 Marcelo Chimirri resigned from his post as CEO of Hondutel, without a substitute being named. On January 24, 2008 the United States embassy confirmed that Chimirri would not be allowed to enter the US. [ [http://www.laprensa.hn/ediciones/2008/01/25/estados_unidos_prohibe_entrada_a_chimirri Estados Unidos prohíbe entrada a Chimirri] ]

References

External links

* [http://www.hondutel.hn/ Official Site (Spanish)]