Abstract
Overview
The countries covered in this report include: Argentina, Belize,
Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, the Dominican Republic,
Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico,
Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Puerto Rico, Suriname, Uruguay, Venezuela,
and the small Caribbean island nations.
The report provides key information about the major fixed-line operators in
Latin America and the Caribbean.
Topics covered include:
- brief company history and shareholder structure;
- financial performance;
- subscriber evolution;
- market position.
Key highlights:
Argentina
Argentina has adopted a single licence for all telecom services (Licencia
Unica), including fixed and mobile telephony, Internet access, data
communications, and value added services. Argentina' s long-distance market is
highly competitive, but in the basic telephony sector, meaningful competition
has yet to develop. Two regional incumbents, Telefonica de Argentina and
Telecom Argentina, dominate the local fixed-line infrastructure. Telecom
Argentina is under cross-holding scrutiny since rival operator Telefonica
acquired a stake in its parent company, Telecom Italia.
Brazil
The bulk of Brazil' s fixed-line network is divided between Telefonica' s Telesp
and locally owned Oi, which is in the process of taking over the third
incumbent, Brasil Telecom. America Movil' s Embratel is the long-distance
domestic and international telecom incumbent. The government authorised the
merger of Oi and Brasil Telecom as a way of creating a strong national player
able to compete with foreign-owned giants America Movil and Telefonica, which
would otherwise dominate the Brazilian fixed, mobile, and broadband markets.
Mexico
With the opening of the telecom market, numerous new entrants were licensed to
provide services in Mexico. Nevertheless, Telmex still dominates the
fixed-line market with around 90% of lines, maintaining a stranglehold over
the country' s last mile infrastructure. In fact, Mexico remains the last
country in the OECD yet to unbundle its local loop. In mid-2008, Telmex spun
off its international operations, keeping the lion' s share of the company' s
debt and releasing its international operations from its domestic operations.
Telmex reported a decline in revenues for the year ending December 2008 due to
poor performance in voice services. It enjoyed robust growth, on the other
hand, in its Internet segment, and in particular from data related services.
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