The company Telefonica went from monopolizing 22.3% of the total mobile telephone subscriptions in the country in 2015, to concentrating 29.9% at the end of last year.
According to a report prepared by the Superintendence of Telecommunications (Sutel), which was released on November 17th, in the last few years Telefonica has gained ground in the mobile telephone market, and in the cases of Claro and the Costa Rican Institute of Electricity (ICE), they have decreased their share.
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).
After Millicom announced that it exercised its right to cancel the Share Purchase Agreement for the acquisition of Telefonica's operating subsidiary in Costa Rica, the Spanish firm will focus on strengthening its operations in the Central American country.
Eight months after the Telecommunications Superintendence authorized the economic concentration requested for Millicom to buy the shares of Telefónica de Costa Rica TC S.A., the parties announced on May 2nd that they had decided to rescind the agreement.
After rejecting the two previously filed applications, El Salvador's Superintendence of Competition confirmed that it had received a new request for América Móvil to complete the acquisition process of Telefónica.
In Guatemala, the telephone company Tuenti reported that it will now be part of América Móvil, owner of the Claro brand, following the sale of Telefonica's shares in early 2019.
The Mayor's Office of Managua filed a lawsuit against Millicom, arguing that the company has a debt of almost $1 million on account of five years of arrears in the payment of the Real Estate tax.
The debt claimed by the City Hall corresponds to the alleged omission in the payment of the municipal tax corresponding to 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018, a period in which the assets still belonged to Telefónica.
In El Salvador, the Superintendence of Competition reported that "it has declared inadmissible the request for economic concentration presented by América Móvil S.A.B. de C.V., on March 5 of this year."
"When a new application for authorization is submitted, the SC will continue this process on the basis of a technical, legal and economic analysis, under the principle of independence that the LC mandates and distinguishes its actions, with the sole objective of protecting and ensuring competition in the country," reported the Superintendence of Competition (SC).
The request for authorization of economic concentration was presented, "consisting of the acquisition by América Móvil of control of the majority of Telefónica's capital stock in El Salvador."
At the end of January of this year it was reported that América Móvil bought 99.3% of Telefónica El Salvador, a transaction that reached close to $311 million.
The company reported that it sold all the shares of Telefónica Guatemala and 99.3% of Telefónica El Salvador to América Móvil for $648 million.
The Spanish company stated that the closing of the sale of Telefónica Guatemala took place on January 24, however, the sale of Telefónica El Salvador is subject to the relevant regulatory conditions.
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.
The arbitrariness with which municipalities are issuing permits to build cell towers is preventing controls and the ability to demand better coverage.
The obstacles imposed by the different municipalities have forced the suspension of the timeframe which telephone companies were given to meet the required demand for coverage in order to operate in the market.
The supervisor of telecommunications and major operators have agreed to implement number portability in November 2013.
After arguing that it was technically impossible to implement the necessary equipment until March 2014, "the Costa Rican Electricity Institute (ICE) agreed to accelerate the purchase of equipment in order to implement number portability, while Movistar and Claro operators relaxed deadlines for developing the system which had been agreed on months ago," noted an article in Elfinancierocr.com.
The announcement by the Costa Rican state telecom company, that it will not take part in the tender organized by TELCOR, apparently leaves the competition with only the Chinese consortium Xinwei.
Laprensa.com.ni reports that "The announcement by the Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad (ICE) occurred following a publication in the newspaper La Prensa which revealed that the bidding terms and conditions established by Telcor for this tender were designed to favor the bid by the Chinese consortium, whose arrival in the country is being promoted by Laureano Ortega, son of President Daniel Ortega, from his post at the para-governmental agency Pro Nicaragua. The ICE’s exit from the tender along with Claro Movil and Telefonica Movistar due to "locks" built into the bidding terms and conditions, leaves Xinwei practically as the only bidder. This means that the main argument for awarding them the contract is that their offer will be the only one."
Since the formal break up of the monopoly held by the state communications firm, ICE, the number of allocated cell lines has grown from 3.9 to 5.3 million.
Elfinancierocr.com reports that this information was obtained "by an appeal to the Constitutional Court, which forced the Sutel to provide the number of lines that the ICE had up to November 2011, which was considered a strategic issue by the state company and the regulator. "
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