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%.
The Bank of Guatemala is putting out to tender the Iinternet service for the period between March 16, 2018 and March 15, 2021.
Guatemala Government Purchase 7482841:
"During the time the provision of the requested service lasts, the Contractor will be obliged to provide the Bank of Guatemala with technical advice and corrective maintenance.
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.
Between 2010 and 2014 internet access in households in the metropolitan urban area in the country increased from 18.3% to 27%.
In 2010, it was reported that in rural areas of Guatemala only 1.4% of households had internet access, a figure that hasn't changed to date. Nationally, 12.8% of the population has access to the internet.
The manager of the National Institute of Statistics, Ruben Narciso, told Estrategiaynegocios.net that "...
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":
Panama is the only country in the region which has improved considerably in the use of information technology in the last year.
Investments in the field of information technology have resulted in more and better use of these IT services in Panama, which has improved its overall position in the use of technology, according to the Information Technology 2014 report, prepared by the World Economic Forum World.
In Panama it is up to 5.12 Mbps, in Nicaragua 3.53, in Honduras 3.43, Guatemala 3.32, in El Salvador 3.10, and in Costa Rica up to 2.81 Mbps.
The data has been provided by Speedtest.net, which based on download speed controls made by million of users, maintains a ranking of 188 countries according to the average download speeds in Mbps over the past 30 days where the average distance between the client and the server is less than 300 miles.
Devices connected to the internet will revolutionize consumption not only in terms of the way things are bought but also in the interaction between consumers and retailers.
From an article by the Costa Rican Foreign Trade Promotion Office (PROCOMER):
Mobile devices continue to change buying habits and defining the profile of the online shopper was the topic of discussion at Mobile Commerce Congress, the first conference dedicated exclusively to mobile commerce as a new sales tool for retailers, conducted in Spain.
So far in 2013, internet sales amounted to $80 million, 23% more than in 2012.
This was explained by Jorge Gomez, Guatemalan representative in the Latin American Business Courier Confederation. During 2012 Guatemala's eCommerce activities reported revenue of $65 million.
Gomez explained that of the 15 million inhabitants in the country, only 3.3% buy online and for the most part they are residents of Guatemala City.
Communications currently being the engine of development, Latin America is moving at low speeds in a vehicle that is too costly.
An article in Elfinancierocr.com quotes the President of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), Luis Alberto Moreno, who highlights what all Latin Americans are suffering from: a brutal disadvantage in the availability of broadband connectivity, compared with developed countries.
In Guatemala and proposals arising from the recently passed amendment to the Communications Act, which extended radio concessions for 20 years.
In light of the act coming into effect, deputies in the Transparency Commission are preparing a bill relating to the issue of transparency, Deputy Carlos Barreda, a member of the panel, said "We must establish that the usufruct be delivered through an auction or implement a public payment for its renewal.
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.
As of July 2012 there have been some 250,000 online buying and selling transactions, 10% higher than in the same period in 2011.
This increase in online electronic shopping goes hand in hand with internet penetration (about 2.3 million have internet access) and the use of plastic money (4.5 million credit and debit cards are circulating in the country).