The Superintendency of Competition has ruled that conditions be set on the acquisition of the companies Caribeña and Caribeña Cable de El Salvador by Telemóvil El Salvador.
From a statement issued by the Superintendency of Competition:
In order to prevent possible effects contrary to sound competition in the markets, theBoard of Directors of the Superintendency of Competitiondecided to condition the acquisition of the portfolio of clients subscribed to TV and internet services and telecommunications services and of the assets of the companies Caribeña S.A. de C.V. and Caribeña Cable de El Salvador S.A. de C.V. by Telemóvil El Salvador, S.A. de C.V.
Over the next two years, Cable & Wireless plans to invest $220 million in strengthening infrastructure for mobile telephony and switching over from copper to fiber optics.
The announcement was made by the president of Liberty Global, owner of Cable & Wireless since 2016.
"...Mike Fries said in a press conference that the new investment will be made to reinforce the infrastructure of mobile telephony, switch from fixed copper to fiber optic networks, boost services for companies and for the government."
At the close of 2016, Comunicaciones Celulares S.A. had 52% of mobile phone users in operation, followed by Telecomunicaciones de Guatemala S.A. with 26% and Telefónica Móviles Guatemala S.A. with 22%.
The statistics bulletin for the second half of 2016, prepared by the Superintendency of Telecommunications, provides information on telephony and telecommunications in Guatemala concerning the operators: Commercial Network -ORC-, Local Network -ORL- and International Port-OPI-.
In Costa Rica a tender is being launched for the implementation of 100 MB of wireless internet access in parks, plazas, train stations and other public spaces.
$45 million will be invested in the project, and the aim is to connect 985 wireless access points in 360 districts of the country's 82 cantons, including 62 public libraries, 28 train stations and 7 civic centers for peace.The delivery of offers is scheduled for November 2017.Seedetails of the tender.
A plan is being worked on in Costa Rica to implement a broadband internet network for 2,500 educational centers in different areas of the country.
The proposal which is being worked on by the government and Fonatel is in the planning stage, and aims to develop a broadband internet network with different speeds and capacities, which would be defined according to the number of users in each educational center.
For the third time the date for submitting bids in the 70 MHz tender for the radio spectrum for international mobile technology services has been postponed.
For the third time, the deadline has been changed for submitting the proposals, after the operators interested in thetender filed appeals and objections against the tender conditions.
"The regulation exercised by the Siget in the retail mobile market discourages investment in infrastructure and the acquisition of larger portions of the spectrum."
Without the regulation of retail prices, the Salvadoran mobile phone market would have incentives for investments with social and economically desirable ends, concludes the study entitled "Analysis of the regulation of retail prices of mobile telephony in El Salvador",prepared by the Center for Studies on Telecommunications in Latin America.
The state run electricity company ICE and Claro have obtained contracts to build infrastructure to provide internet and mobile telephony services in 620 communities in the province of Limon.
From a statement issued by the Sutel:
January 5, 2017.The National Telecommunications Fund (FONATEL) through Banco Nacional, as administrator of the Trust, signed contracts with Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad (ICE) and Claro to bring internet telephony to 620 vulnerable communities in the districts of Siquirres, Pococi, Guácimo, Matina, Limón and Talamanca.
A tender is being launched in Costa Rica for seven generic blocks (2 x 5 MHz) in the bands of 1800 MHz and 1900/2100 MHz of the radio spectrum for mobile telephony and Internet.
Government Purchase No. 354-2015 Costa Rica-TEL-MICITT:
"The Superintendency of Telecommunications (Sutel), is putting out to tender by means of a Public Act seven generic blocks (2 x 5 MHz) in the bands of 1800 MHz and 1900/2100 MHz for mobile telephony and internet services.
Of the 752,952 customers who in the past five years migrated from one provider to another in search of better quality and service, 94% correspond to mobile phones.
From a statement issued by the National Public Services Authority:
Five years after the implementation of Number Portability in Panama, figures show that to date 752,952 customers have migrated from one provider to another looking for a better quality of service and the best deals.
Five years after the market opened up, three municipalities continue to prioritize landscape aesthetics versus the need to install structures to ensure cell phone coverage.
Two court cases motivated by the governments of the municipalities of Esparza and Moravia, and the filing an appeal with the Sala I by the Municipality of Curridabat, summarize the legal objections raised because of the installation of towers for the provision of cell phone services in Costa Rica, and which continue to generate controversy five years after the opening of the telecommunications sector, according to an article by Nacion.com.
With funding from South Korea and the IDB, plans have been made to install 3,500 kilometers of fiber optics in the next two years, with an estimated $100 million investment.
Telcor's general manager, Orlando Castillo, explained that the process of implementing the network of 3500 kilometers of fiber optics will take all of 2017 to complete, and it is expected it will be finished and ready to start operating in early 2018.
It has been announced that Telefonica will invest $250 million in implementation, in various stages, of the LTE telecommunications network.
From a statement issued by the Presidency of El Salvador:
The Spanish giant in the telecommunications industry, Telefonica, confirmed on Tuesday the good investment climate in El Salvador after announcing an investment of more than $250 million in the country with the installation of Movistar 's LTE network, using the latest technology for internet connection.
9.3 million mobile phone lines were registered at the end of 2015, but they are only able to operate on the 3G network as the 4G network has not even been put out to tender yet.
While the rest of the region has already made progress in the use of 4G technology, in El Salvador the process for awarding frequencies of that band between telecommunications companies has not yet even started.In the developed world they are now planning the implementation of 5G technology.
Cable Onda S.A., Cable & Wireless Panama and Liberty Technologies won the 4 year contracts to implement the service of nationwide public internet access in Panama.
Thetenderaims to provide WiFi Internet Access Points in three regions and a system for administration of the network. The winning companies were Cable Onda, S.A., Cable & Wireless Panama, S.A. and Liberty Technologies Corp., for a total amount of $21.6 million for the next four years, distributed as follows: