MEXICO CITY-Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama. They’re some of the smallest countries in the world, but at the same time, they’re actively participating in the Latin American region’s momentum for telecommunications development and growth. Indeed, the countries that make up Central America have greatly deregulated their markets and have set conditions with which to catch from abroad the investments they need to improve their wireless and wireline communications infrastructures.
Bridging the two American continents, these six nations have a total population of 33 million and more than half a million cellular/PCS users, with a wireless penetration rate of about 1.5 percent. That means, yes, lots of opportunities for growth.
Who’s taking charge of that growth? The answer, similar to many other markets in the world, is both privatized incumbents and new operators-with ownership divided among local investors, governments and foreign investors.
Guatemala
The Guatemalan market, population 11 million, provides one of the most advanced examples of how wireless is progressing in the region. Since cellular began, there had been just one mobile operator, Comcel, owned by Millicom and local investors. The company has about 180,000 subscribers and operates an AMPs network that in the following months will be upgraded to TDMA.
Now, Comcel knows the meaning of competition.
Telgua, the ex-PTT, just launched in April its A-band PCS service. With Telmex as its international partner, Telgua currently serves about 5,000 users.
In addition, in March Spain’s Telef
