Argentina's Camara de Cooperativas de Telecomunicaciones (Chamber of Telecommunications Cooperatives, or Catel) has announced that Imowi, its MVNO service, will launch on 20 January 2022.
The service has been delayed for quite a while since the 2020 announcement that it would be operative in April 2021 for testing via user groups related the organization. The aim then was to launch to the market in June 2021.
According to Telecompaper, Imowi will initially provide services using Telefonica's Movistar network and the JSC Ingenium technology platform in Del Viso, Pinamar, San Miguel del Monte and Tortuguitas in the Buenos Aires province as well as Villa Gobernador Galvez in Santa Fe. More areas are to be added throughout the year.
imowi says it expects eventually to be able to serve users of more than 1,000 cooperatives and 1,500 SMEs throughout the country.
The Chamber of Telecommunications Cooperatives (CATEL) describes itself as a non-profit entity launched in mid-2006 by a group of public service cooperatives from different parts of the country interested in promoting the development of new services as well as offering technological updates and training, within the framework of a changing telecommunications market.
Currently, Catel is made up of entities from the provinces of Buenos Aires, Córdoba, Chubut, La Pampa, Misiones, Santa Cruz, Mendoza, Río Negro and Santa Fe.
The brand name imowi comes from combining the distinctive values adopted by the operator: integration, mobility and wireless.
