As a result of the conditions imposed by the Superintendence of Competition to carry out the operation, América Movil and Telefónica decided to cancel the agreement to purchase 99.3% of Telefonica Moviles El Salvador.
According to the technical, legal and economic analysis carried out by the Superintendence of Competition SC, it was warned that the acquisition would produce limitations to competition in the markets of mobile and fixed telephony and business connectivity services.
One of the conditions for authorizing the acquisition is that America Movil must relinquish the right to operate 25 MHz of radio spectrum with national coverage in the 850 MHz band and 30 MHz of radio spectrum with national coverage in the 1900 MHz band, which currently belong to Telefonica.
According to the technical, legal and economic analysis carried out, it was warned that the acquisition would result in limitations to competition in the markets for mobile and fixed telephony and business connectivity services. Therefore, the Board of Directors of the Superintendence of Competition (CDSC) decided to impose a set of conditions to repair the damages, which include enforcement measures prior to the closing of the transaction (ex ante) and a series of subsequent obligations (ex post) in order to counteract such limitations, informed the Superintendence of Competition (SC).
Telefonica announced that it had reached an agreement with Liberty Latin America for the sale of the entire capital stock of its operation in Costa Rica, a transaction totaling $500 million.
In El Salvador, businessmen are preparing a proposal for the government to disconnect the 2G telephone network, so that services migrate to 4G and 5G technology.
The initiative, which is being prepared by the National Association of Private Enterprise (ANEP), will be presented to the authorities during the National Meeting of Private Enterprise (Enade) 2019.
The number of active cell phones in the country reached 5.43 million between 2018, 3% more than what was reported in 2017, increase explained by the behavior of the number of mobile phones with type of service per contract.
Reports of the General Comptroller of the Republic detail that between 2017 and 2018 the number of active cell phones in the country went from 5,280,195 to 5,432,789, which is equivalent to a 3% variation.
In Guatemala, at the end of the first half of the year, customers with postpaid plans from telephony operators increased 12% compared to those reported at the end of 2017.
According to statistics from the Superintendence of Telecommunications (SIT), the increase in the number of postpaid plans registered during the first six months of the year is mainly because of the increase in customers reported by the operator Claro, since between December 2017 and June 2018 increased from 329 thousand to 490 thousand.
From January to March of this year, the country imported $34 million worth of mobile phones, 9% more than was purchased in the same period in 2017.
Figures from the Mobile Phone Market information system in Honduras, compiled by the Business Intelligence Unit at CentralAmericaData: [GRAFICA caption = "Click to interact with graph"]
In the fourth quarter of 2017, mobile telephone lines in Honduras totaled just over 8.2 million subscribers, registering an increase of 5% compared to the third quarter of the same year.
According to a report by the National Telecommunications Commission (Conatel), at the end of 2017 of the total number of mobile telephony subscribers in the country, 662,652 subscribers were using the Post-payment format, representing 8% of the total subscribers, while 7,570,847 corresponded to the Pre-payment format, representing 92% of the total.
The number of subscribers to the mobile and fixed Internet services increased from 2.5 million to 2.6 million between December 2016 and September 2017.
According to figures from the National Telecommunications Commission (Conatel), in the third quarter of last year "... The number of subscribers of fixed internet services reached a total of 245,924 at the end of this quarter of the year, observing a growth of 2.12% compared to the previous quarter.The number of mobile internet subscribers reached a total of 2,111,101, with a growth of 2.95% compared to the previous quarter."
Unlike Costa Rica, El Salvador and Panama, Guatemalan authorities did not sign the agreement that seeks to eliminate additional fees that are charged for roaming services.
The Superintendency of Telecommunications took part in the Assembly of the Inter-American Telecommunications Commission (Citel) which was held in Buenos Aires, but the Guatemalan institution has not yet given the reasons why it did not sign the agreement in favor of eliminating charges for roaming services.
After a reduction in 2015, mobile phone penetration grew again in 2016, registering a total of 156 lines per 100 inhabitants.
From a statement issued by the Ministry of Science, Technology and Telecommunications:
Costa Rica has experienced a trend of increasing penetration of mobile telephony in the last decade. According to figures from the Vice Ministry of Telecommunications, in 2006, 33 cell phone lines were registered per 100 inhabitants, however by 2015 there were a total of 156 recorded lines per 100 inhabitants.
Caps imposed by the Superintendency on tariffs for telecommunications services restrict competition by preventing operators from offering more expensive packages to more affluent segments.
The telecommunications industry is requesting the freeing up of rates with the aim of letting the market itself be responsible for setting them, with oversight by the Superintendency of Telecommunications (Sutel).
The information presented by the Telecommunications Authority does not allow consumers to compare the quality offered by different operators.
Data published by the Superintendency of Telecommunications (Sutel) through a virtual map on its website does not specify in detail the quality of the calls, and the coverage of operators in specific parts of the country.
There is still a predominance of prepaid systems, which account for 95.6% of the 21,474,000 cell lines operating in the country.
The mobile phone market in Guatemala still has a preference for prepaid systems, or top up payment cards, with the number of the number of lines that operate under this mode up to July 2014 totaling 20,548,000 .
After the opening up of the telecommunications market, the number of postpaid cellular lines are down from 1.6 million in 2010 to 1.1 million as at the end of 2012.
Prepaid connections currently represent 80% of the lines that exist in the country, while two years ago the figure was barely 49%, according to a study by the Telecommunications Superintendency (Sutel).