Author(s): Luis Demetrio Gomez Garcia
This case seeks to place the student in the position of executive president of one of the three telecommunication companies in Cuba in 2003: Empresa de Telecomunicaciones del Caribe (C_COM), a Cuban-Belgian joint venture, and the only company operating in GSM mobile technology. The president of C_COM had to present a strategic proposal to the country's telecommunication regulatory body, in order to achieve the nationwide extension of the GSM network. The company only operated in Havana, the capital, and in Varadero, one of the most famous tourist areas, both of them with the highest concentration of foreign GSM mobile carriers and with possibilities of connecting them to the network through roaming. However, not only C_COM would present its proposal, but also the other two companies would present their alternatives separately. That put the president in the dilemma of whether to present a competitive proposal that would include only C_COM or a proposal of a strategic alliance that would contemplate the participation of the other two companies. One clear thing was the need to undertake investments for the national expansion of the GSM network, resources that C_COM did not have because it had been operating for only two years. In any case, C_COM needed external sources of financing for the second time in the life of the company.