In the 1990s the Argentine telephone system (which was formerly property of a state-owned company, ENTEL) was sold to two private corporations looking to invest in the local market: Telefónica, a telco from Spain, and Telecom Argentina, owned by Telecom Italia and the Argentine Werthein family. The country was divided in two zones, within which one of the companies was the exclusive provider of the service (a state-sanctioned monopoly).