A 10 year license has been awarded to the Russian-owned company to allow them to venture into the market of data transmission services.
The Nicaraguan newspaper La Gaceta published "...Awarded to the company Yota de Nicaragua SA License 2014-TD-001 for permission to operate and provide data transmission services, as a service of general interest from the date of signing of the license agreement, until 30 January 2024."
The telecommunications company Yota has made complaints to Procompetencia of Nicaragua against America Movil, citing "media obstructions."
According to Informe Pastran: "Nicaragua's Procompetencia confirmed this afternoon that it has received an allegation from an operator in the telecommunications market for alleged unfair competitive behavior ... Although Procompetencia has not said so publicly, Informe Pastran is aware that the complaint comes from the transnational company YOTA who denounced Mexico's America Movil, operating here under the brand name Claro, in a new chapter in the war between foreign phone companies, now for the control of Internet customers ... According to Article 46 paragraph b) of Act 601, the accused party could be sanctioned if the indicated anticompetitive behaviour proves to be true... ”
The company announced it will continue with the WiMax technology in Nicaragua despite changes in other countries.
The new manager in Nicaragua, Oleg Arsenyev, added: "... it is true that in other countries we are changing and experimenting with new protocols, new technology, but in Nicaragua it is not necessary. We will continue to use WiMax as long as customers consider it good speed ..."
The industry is characterized by low levels of market penetration in Nicaragua with little competition and huge future growth potential.
An article in Ecommerce Journal analyzes the recent development of Nicaragua's telecommunications market. It highlights the issue of the poorly executed privatization and the resulting fixed-line monoply as being a cause for concern. Mobile and Internet markets, meanwhile, are a controlled by a duopoly.