Personal care items, vehicle accessories, food and beverages are some of the products most demanded by consumers, who have migrated to digital platforms to make their purchases.
In the current scenario of confinement due to the health crisis in the region, consumers have disappeared from physical stores and have migrated to digital platforms to buy their products.
The percentage of the population with Internet access in Central America increased 17% between 2016 and 2018, increasing from 44% to 61%.
Data from the report "Internet in Central America 2018", compiled by the Commercial Trade Area of CentralAmericaData:
Currently, Costa Rica is the Central American country with the highest proportion of households with Internet access, with 77% of the total, followed by Panama with 67% and Honduras with 31%.
Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad is evaluating the Salvadoran market to determine if there is an opportunity to establish itself as a new broadband operator.
The state telecommunications company already has a presence in Nicaragua, where in conjunction with the state company Enatrel, it operates the company Telecomunica, which provides internet and television services.
Just as having good physical roads is vital for production and commerce, the "information highway" must work perfectly if you want to take advantage of the benefits of remote working.
Costa Rica, which has serious problems in its road infrastructure, also has problems with the "information highway", according to the opinion of executives at companies that do teleworking.
The only countries in America where mobile phone prices are still regulated are El Salvador and Costa Rica. It is no coincidence that these countries are among the last in the rankings for speed of mobile internet services.
EDITORIAL
And it is no coincidence that these two countries also suffer from the existence of the heaviest controlling bureaucracies in the Central American isthmus, with clear consequences for the slow adaptation to changes experienced by the global economy, particularly globalization.
The commercial potential of mobile devices continues to grow in emerging markets, where 93% of people check their phone in the first hour after waking up.
A global report by Deloitte highlights the growing business potential of mobile devices such as tablets and mobile phones, both in developed and emerging markets.
Five key elements highlighted in the report "Global mobile consumer trends: First Edition" .
Competitiveness in the production of goods and services is directly dependent on the adoption of digital technologies, meaning that having connectivity is vital.
The World Bank is analyzing the impact of the internet and mobile telephony in economic development and the "digital dividend" generated by improving economies in general and the business sector in particular, and its productivity through digital technologies.
According to the Inter-American Development Bank, broadband access increases company productivity and allows access to more and better information helping decisions to be made efficiently and at less cost.
From a statement issued by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB):
Companies that have adopted broadband operations have increased their productivity by 10 percent on average, according to the McKinsey Global Institute.
Imbalances in the penetration of ICT services have created a significant gap allowing to continue to increase investment and the volume of resources allocated to broadband and the sector in general.
From the Executive Summary of a report by the CAF entitled "Expansion of Regional Infrastructure for Internet Interconnection Traffic in Latin America":
Costa Rica has implemented a Neutral Internet Exchange Point, a concept that could be extrapolated to the entire region to reduce operating costs and increase connection speeds.
There is no need to explain the benefits that greater use of the internet brings to economic development, which is always dependent on the associated costs. The integration of internet connectivity through so-called traffic exchange points (IXP), should be incorporated into strategies for Central American integration.
Costa Rica is the regional leader in 4G data consumption through mobile devices and 4G networks.
America Movil (Claro) and Telefonica (Movistar) agree that Costa Rica is the country with the highest data traffic in Central America, this is because it is the only country that does not charge for downloading data, but rather by the speed offered by providers.
The President of Grupo Digicel has announced investments over the next eighteen months of more than $40 million.
In his short visit to El Salvador, Denis O'Brien was interviewed about the expansion, with topics covered such as the Salvadoran authorities refusal to authorize the sale of Digicel to Claro and the company’s future investments in the country.
Along with the Central American Electrical transmission lines also being installed are thirty-six fiber optic cables, adding internet connectivity via underground lines.
The new network will allow prices to drop because of increased competition, said Orlando Martinez, director of the company that owns the network (EPR).
"How much does a megabit cost in your home today? About $15? Well, in the future with that $15 you could have 20 Mbps", he said.
At the Transcyberiano congress held in Costa Rica, one of the conclusions was that the success of new businesses depends on their Internet presence.
An article in Elfinancierocr.com reports that "the web has become increasingly vital for any new business seeing as daily internet consumption in the last year went from 45.5% to 53.8% of Costa Ricans, mainly due to cellular consumption, said Cathalina Garcia, vice president of Unimer Centroamérica.