(Prensa Latina) - "The Venezuelan Telecommunication Minister, Jesse Chacón, pointed out that the nationalization of Compañía Anónima Nacional Teléfonos de Venezuela (Cantv), Venezuela's main telephone company, is aimed at controlling its platform in order to create spaces for other national operators.

The nationalization of Cantv, included in the strategy to recover strategic assets, is nowadays one of the efforts to greatly contribute to society.

The State's presence in key companies such as Cantv, beyond a simple mercantile conception, is seen by experts as an option that guarantees all sectors to access new technology.

In this regard, the Telecommunication Minister Jesse Chacón, stated that this nationalization is aimed at controlling its platform in order to create spaces for other national operators.

According to Chacón, the unequal coverage distribution in most of the country is due to the control of the main group, which 'has limited the entrance of new operators through restrictive measures.'

Among Cantv's main shareholders, we can mention Verizon Communications, Telefónica Internacional and the Social Development Bank of Venezuela (Bandes), as well as retired employees and other financial companies.

Nowadays, Cantv controls 83% of the Internet market services, 70% of domestic phone calls and 42% of international calls.

Cantv has an important positioning concerning the international cable connection because it has links with systems such as Américas I, Américas II, Arcos-1 and Panamericano.

Likewise, it has shares in Columbus II, Transatlantic 12 and 13. These systems are dedicated to communications between the European and American Continents, as well as UNISUR ( Brazil , Argentina and Uruguay ), and ARCOS-1, which links Venezuela with Central America, the United States and five Caribbean countries.

Its interests include Maya-1 (Colombia, Panama, Costa Rica and the United states), and systems such as Taino Carib and Eastern Caribbean Fiber Systems, both used in the communication with Trinidad and Tobago and other 13 Caribbean islands, as well as Antillas-1 (Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic).

Beyond the American continent, Cantv reaches Spain and the United Kingdom with Rioja system and Asia and North America with NPC.

Cantv's infrastructure is complemented with a thousand-kilometer network of optic fiber, a new wireless telephone service and Internet access.

President Chávez's call to recover these assets for the public sector sets a trend to increase the social role of technology in the construction of the new Venezuelan National project".