If the bill that has already been approved in a first debate in Congress successful, the Panamanian mobile telephone market will have only three participants, instead of four, as at present.
The aim of the bill is "... to consolidate the market so that the necessary investments in infrastructure can be achieved and thus technologically renew coverage of these services in Panama."
More choice and diversity in programming characterize a market where, of the 15 licenses granted, eight are in operation three are 'Preparing for Entry' and four have stopped operating.
According to statistics from the National Institute of Statistics and Census of the Comptroller General of the Republic, there are currently 919,000 TV users, of which 46% watch cable TV, ie there are 423,000 households with cable TV service.
The number of customers of pay TV services has increased from 15,000 six years ago to 133,000 today.
The data, provided by the National Authority of Public Services (ASEP), also indicates that ten suppliers are competing for this growing market.
Prensa.com reports that "the big jump in the number of subscribers came in 2010, when the number of subscribers exceeded 100,000 and continued to skyrocket.
After the appearance of number portability in Panama, Claro is the company that has attracted the most users, with 94,773, while only 12,396 have switched to another company.
Following this company is Movistar who "... has gained 26,517 users, Más Móvil with 26,540 and in last place Digicel, which has attracted only 17,258 users, according to a study by the polling company Ipsos" published Panamaamerica.com.pa.
Cable & Wireless Panama (CWP), Telefonica Panama, Digicel Panama and Claro are the companies competing for the local market.
Panama has 3.3 million inhabitants and 7,281,074 registered mobile phone lines, according to the National Authority of Public Services (ASEP), which is more than two lines per person.
Despite the growth, experts estimate that the local market has not reached a point of maturity and there is lack of serious study providing a realistic view of the situation in telecommunications, and in particular in mobile telephony. Antonio Garcia, Business Development Manager of Claro Panama, is one of the supporters of this idea.
It is the first country in Central America to use Fourth Generation (4G) technology for data transmission on mobile phones.
A press release from Claro reads:
“Panama, August 9, 2011 .-
Claro, a leading telecommunications company in Central America, presents the first fourth generation 4G mobile network based on HSPA + technology which will allow its customers to increase the transmission speed of data for browsing and downloading content via a mobile Internet service either by using their cell phones or by logging onto a computer or laptop with a 4G modem.
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