During the first three months of 2019, Central American countries imported cell phones for $329 million, 27% more than what was reported in the same period of 2018.
Figures from the Trade Intelligence Unit of CentralAmericaData: [GRAPHIC caption="Click to interact with the graphic"]
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.
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 roamingservices.
Since rules came into effect on number portability, Costa Rica's state telephone company has lost 559 thousand lines, which have swelled the client lists of the two foreign competitors that operate in the mobile telephony market.
The possibility of keeping the same cell phone number and changing operator has existed since November 2013, and since then, Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad (ICE) has lost almost 560 thousand lines, which passed into the hands of Telefónica, which operates the brand Movistar, and Claro, a brand of the Mexican company América Móvil.
Imports of cell phones have grown by 10% over the past 5 years, going from $57 million in 2010 to $63 million in 2015.
Figures provided by the Business Intelligence unit at CentralAmericaData.com show that imports of cell phones measured in tons increased from 342 to 455 between 2010 and 2015. According to the Foreign Trade report by the Central Bank of Nicaragua,"... this product occupies first place in imports of durable consumer goods".
After declining by 22% in 2014, in 2015 the total number of mobile phone lines grew by 7%, with 18.1 million lines.
Of the total number of lines registered by the Superintendency of Telecommunications at the end of 2015, 95% are prepaid lines, a trend that has continued in recent years.
The 22% drop in 2014 has been attributed to the $0.65 tax that was proposed by the Pérez Molina administration to finance part of the 2015 budget, which was later declared unconstitutional and annulled.
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 .
The Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad's share in the mobile phone market fell to 65%.
At the end of 2012 Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad (ICE) owned a 79% stake in the mobile market, and this was reduced to 65% in September 2013.
In two years the number of mobile phone users has increased by 41%, with a clear preference for prepaid plans.
The cellular market in Nicaragua has shown strong growth over the past seven years, going from 1,617,319 mobile users in the country to nearly 7 million in 2013.
In Costa Rica, 71% of users connect to the internet via their cell phone, while 68% do so using a computer at home.
Elfinancierocr.com reports that "that means that about 920,000 people say that they connect to the internet using a mobile device," according to a study prepared by Unimer RED 506, which noted that access through this medium grew by 56% compared to 2011 and 30% compared to 2012.
español
2921
