Rapid development and improvement in El Salvador’s Telecoms industry attributed to Privatisation.

Published by admin on June 30, 2011

Rapid development and improvement in El Salvador’s Telecoms industry attributed to Privatisation.

(PRWEB) November 20, 2003

Research and Markets announces the addition of the 2003 Telecommunications and Information Highways in Latin America to their offerings.

Key statistics and market overviews are provided for each of the countries in Latin America as well as discussing their regulatory environments, infrastructure and the major players in each market.

Mexico is a rapidly growing market and one of the regions largest economies, but with a teledensity of only 14%, there is a great potential for investment. A long awaited broad overhaul of the 1995 Telecommunications Law with a restructuring of the telecoms regulator Cofetel has started. Predictions indicate, the communications services revenues will expand at a CAGR of 12.4%, to reach US$ 30 billion by the end of 2005.

El Salvador’s telecommunications market has been one of the most vibrant and fastest growing in Latin America since its telecoms system was privatised in 1997. By May 2002, El Salvador had 709,394 phone lines installed with a teledensity of 11%. With 1,004,448 mobile subscribers in September 2002, El Salvador is the largest market in Central America. The country has a stable economic environment, and an open trade and investment environment. Economic growth although solid, has been disappointing.

Telecommunications infrastructure in Guatemala is among the least developed in Latin America with a fixed network teledensity of only 6.5%. Wireless technology is making up for this with the highest teledensity rate in Central America. Heavy competition exists between the four operators, giving the people of Guatemala the best available wireless services at very competitive prices. The estimation is for wireless numbers to reach 2 million by 2005.

Access to telecommunications services in Honduras remains well below the Latin American average. The installed telephone network capacity in November 2001 was 415,131 lines, with 310,617 lines in service. Line penetration for the entire country is 63%, with 4.6 telephone lines per one hundred inhabitants. Privatisation of the telecommunications sector remains incomplete and the sale and reform of the state telecommunications entity Hondutel has been postponed. The National Telecommunications Commission (Conatel), an independent regulatory agency was created for the telecommunications sector.

Nicaragua has one of the lowest number of telephones per capita in the hemisphere. Government owned Empresa Nicaragüense de Telecomunicaciones (Enitel) is the country’s monopoly operator for all voice services as well as leased lines and telex services. Nicaragua has not yet opened its basic services to competition, full liberalisation of the market may occur in 2004. Competition has entered the mobile market after years of an almost virtual monopoly by BellSouth. Enitel and América Móvil (PCS Digital) launched service in December 2002. Mobile subscriber numbers reached 181,575 in June 2002 and basic fixed-lines installed reached 153,630.

Caribbean countries are deregulating their telecommunication markets. Incumbent operators have begun to lower prices and modernise and expand their networks as competition comes to the markets. Cable & Wireless have held monopolies in the Caribbean for decades but are increasingly coming under pressure to give up these monopolies. The company has invested heavily in the region especially in mobile and Internet services, and with revenues rising and competition increasing, the area is showing great potential for investment.

Puerto Rico is one of the most advanced and fastest-growing telecommunications market in the region. Since the Puerto Rico Telecommunications Act of September 1996, some 233 telecommunications companies have commenced operations on the island.

Telecommunications continues to be a leading growth sector in the Dominican Republic economy with growth of around 29% in the first quarter 2002. Telecommunications in the Dominican Republic is one of the fastest growing and most competitive industry sectors, but still only 11% of the Dominican population has access to a telephone, and less than 2% has access to an Internet connection and only 16% owns a mobile phone. Major telecommunication companies include Compañia Dominicana de Teléfonos (Codetel), Tricom, Centennial and France Telecom.

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