Community Democratization of Telecommunications Community Cooperatives in Argentina: The Case Of TELPIN

A telecommunications community cooperative (TCC) is an autonomous association of individuals, who join forces to respond to common economic, social, and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned enterprise, democratically governed and managed. In Argentina, TCCs were created by community-conscious members to fill in for the State when it was the State was unable to provide telephone service in remote areas. In 1989, the State telephone enterprise was privatized. From 1992 onwards, TCCs replaced the large private telephone enterprises in remote or low-populated areas, since these were not interested in providing services which would not be profitable. TCCs provide telephone and Internet service, through dial-up and/or broadband (ADSL) connections, as well as Internet Protocol (IP) telephony, to their target populations at significantly lower costs than the large traditional firms (Telefónica and Telecom). Most TCCs also offer free community services, such as courses on information and communication technologies (ICTs), and free Internet access to public schools, libraries, and public facilities (police stations, hospitals, etc.). This study focuses on a particular case, TELPIN, the Pinamar Telecommunications Cooperative. Telpin was created in 1962 by a group of Pinamar neighbors. Since then, it has become the largest and most successful Telecommunications Cooperative in Argentina.