Summary 
Venezuelaes GDP per capita is the highest in Latin America bar a few Caribbean islands and yet, although poverty and income inequality have decreased substantially since 2002, still about one fourth of the population is poor. The re-nationalised incumbent, CANTV, has been undertaking social programs for the disadvantaged sections of the population, expanding the reach of its telephone network to rural areas with scant or nonexistent telecom services.
 
While basic telephony stagnates or recedes in the rest of the region, Venezuelaes fixed lines in service increased at a Compound Annual Growth Rate of 13% between 2006 and 2009, pushing teledensity well above the regional average, from levels that used to be abysmally low compared with the countryes economic indicators. Provided CANTV avoids bureaucracy and corruption, state-ownership appears to be beneficial for teledensity due to the infrastructure-intensive nature of the fixed-line sector.
 
The countryes Internet and broadband penetration, however, are below average for Latin America and much lower than would be expected, based on the countryes GDP per capita. There exists no wholesale market for broadband in Venezuela. State-owned CANTV has a monopoly in the provision of ADSL. There are no ISPs in the country even acting as resellers of its ADSL service. The only broadband market competition comes from cable modems, wireless broadband, and satellite. As a result, ADSL in Venezuela is slower and more expensive than in other Latin American countries.
 
If the government were to introduce Local Loop Unbundling, and allow private operators to lease bandwidth from CANTV for broadband services, competition would bring down prices and improve quality (and speed), and we could expect to see a boom in the countryes broadband and ICT sector. CANTV would be able to focus on infrastructure, recovering its investment costs from lease income, rather than trying to operate as a cumbersome, vertically integrated company.
 
Venezuelaes mobile penetration has passed the 100% milestone, positioning itself well above the Latin American average. The mobile industry has reached a high level of maturity and remains a dynamic, competitive market with three operators vying for market share. Mobile broadband is becoming an attractive alternative for Internet users, as well as an important source of revenue for companies faced with a near-saturated market.
 
Venezuela is the regional leader in terms of SMS traffic, the number of text messages being about double the number of minutes the average Venezuelan talks on a mobile phone.
 
Market highlights:
-While Venezuelaes economy contracted in 2009, its telecommunications industry registered a 10% growth, performing better than any other sector.
-The telecom market outlook is reasonably promising for 2010, but more uncertain for 2011. Laws and decrees perceived as undermining to private property rights have lessened foreign capital inflow. Indeed, telecom investment has come primarily from public spending; galloping inflation and energy shortages may erode Venezuelaes international reserves and force budget cuts in the telecom sector.
-Mobile broadband has taken off in Venezuela, and is becoming an attractive alternative for Internet users, as the countryes fixed-line broadband suffers from slow speeds and unavailability.
-Cable TV operator NetUno is deploying Venezuelaes first FttH network to connect new housing developments in Caracas.
-Mobile operator Movistar plans to deploy LTE infrastructure in Venezuelaes major cities in the second half of 2011, but is waiting for the necessary mobile spectrum.
-CANTV plans to launch IPTV in the second half of 2010, but before it can do so it will need to increase the speeds and drop the prices of its ADSL service.
 
Venezuela-key telecom parameters-2008-2009
Sector | 2008 | 2009 (e) |
Internet |   |   |
Internet users (million) | 7.22 | 8.85 |
Penetration rate | 25.9% | 31.2% |
Annual change | 26% | 23% |
Broadband |   |   |
Total subscribers (million) | 1.07 | 1.41 |
Penetration rate | 3.8% | 5.0% |
Annual change | 28% | 32% |
Fixed-lines in service |   |   |
Total subscribers (million) | 6.42 | 6.87 |
Penetration rate | 23.0% | 24.2% |
Annual change | 23.5% | 7.0% |
Mobile telephony subscribers |   |   |
Total subscribers (million) | 28.13 | 30.41 |
Penetration rate | 100.7% | 107.1% |
Annual change | 19% | 8% |
| (Source: based on industry data)
 
For those needing an objective and high-level strategic analysis on Venezuela, this report is essential reading and gives further information on:
-The repercussions of re-nationalisation on Venezuelaes fixed-line, mobile, and broadband sectors, and future industry outlook.
-Government projects in the ICT sector.
-An analysis of Venezuelaes broadband market, particularly ADSL, cable modem, and WiMAX.
-The success of triple play solutions in Venezuela, which has helped to boost the cable TV sector and allowed cable TV companies to offer some competition with the incumbent.
 
Data in this report is the latest available at the time of preparation and may not be for the current year.

Table of Contents 
1. Key Statistics
2. Telecommunications Market
2.1 Country overview
2.1.1 General outlook
2.2 Overview of Venezuela's telecom market 
2.3 Market analysis-2010
3. Regulatory Environment
3.1 Background
3.2 Regulatory authority
3.2.1 Conatel
3.3 Privatisation of CANTV
3.4 Telecom sector liberalisation in Venezuela
3.5 Renationalisation of CANTV
3.6 Interconnect
3.7 Fixed-line tariffs
4. Fixed Network Market
4.1 Overview of operators
4.2 CANTV
4.3 Movistar (Telefonica)
4.4 Digitel
4.5 NetUno
4.6 Inter
5. Telecommunications Infrastructure
5.1 National telecom network
5.1.1 Fixed-line statistics
5.2 International infrastructure
5.2.1 Submarine cable networks
5.2.2 Satellite networks
5.3 Infrastructure developments
5.3.1 Wireless Local Loop (WLL)
5.3.2 IP and Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP)
6. Wholesale
6.1 Overview
7. Broadband Access Market
7.1 Overview
7.1.1 Broadband statistics
7.1.2 Broadband market analysis
7.1.3 Telecentres
7.1.4 Major ISPs
7.1.5 Government projects
7.2 Cable modems
7.3 Asymmetrical Digital Subscriber Line (ADSL)
7.4 Fibre-to-the-Home (FttH) services
7.5 Broadband Powerline (BPL)
7.6 Wireless broadband
7.6.1 WiFi
7.6.2 WiMAX
7.7 Media convergence
7.7.1 Triple play
7.7.2 Broadband TV (IPTV)
8. Broadcasting
8.1 Pay TV overview
8.1.1 Pay TV statistics
8.2 Cable TV
8.2.1 CATV overview
8.2.2 Inter
8.2.3 NetUno
8.2.4 SuperCable
8.3 Satellite-based digital pay TV developments
8.4 Digital terrestrial TV
9. Mobile Communications
9.1 Overview of Venezuela's mobile market
9.1.1 Mobile statistics
9.2 Regulatory issues
9.2.1 Spectrum regulations and auctions
9.3 Mobile technologies
9.3.1 Digital
9.3.2 CDMA2000 1x
9.3.3 Third Generation (3G) mobile
9.3.4 Long-term evolution (LTE)
9.3.5 Mobile handsets/smart phones
9.4 Major mobile operators
9.4.1 Movilnet (CANTV)
9.4.2 Movistar (Telefonica)
9.4.3 Digitel GSM
9.5 Mobile voice services
9.5.1 Prepaid
9.6 Mobile messaging
9.6.1 Short Message Service (SMS)
9.7 Mobile broadband
9.8 Satellite mobile
10. Forecasts
10.1 Forecasts-fixed-line market-2010; 2015; 2020
10.1.1 Scenario 1-higher fixed line growth
10.1.2 Scenario 2-lower fixed line growth
10.2 Forecasts-fixed broadband market-2010; 2015; 2020
10.2.1 Scenario 1-higher broadband growth
10.2.2 Scenario 2-lower broadband growth
10.3 Forecasts-mobile market-2010; 2015; 2020
10.3.1 Scenario 1-higher mobile market growth
10.3.2 Scenario 2-lower mobile market growth
11. Glossary of Abbreviations
Table 1-Country statistics Venezuela-2009
Table 2-Telephone network statistics-2009
Table 3-Internet user statistics-2009
Table 4-Broadband statistics-2009
Table 5-Mobile statistics-2009
Table 6-National telecommunications authority
Table 7-Evolution of GDP in Venezuela-2000-2010
Table 8-Telecom revenues and investments (private sector)-2001-2009
Table 9-Telecom revenue by segment-2008-2009
Table 10-Local fixed-line prepaid/postpaid ratio-2001-2009
Table 11-CANTV-fixed lines in service and market share-2001-2010
Table 12-Movistar-fixed wireless lines-2004-2009
Table 13-Fixed lines in service and teledensity-1997-2010
Table 14-Public payphones-1997-2009
Table 15-Internet users and user penetration rate-1998-2010
Table 16-Fixed broadband subscribers and penetration rates-2000-2010
Table 17-Telecentres/cybercafes-2001-2009
Table 18-CANTV-ADSL subscribers-2001-2010
Table 19-Pay TV subscribers and penetration rates-1997-2009
Table 20-Mobile subscribers and penetration rate-1997-2010
Table 21-Market share by mobile operators-2001-2009
Table 22-Evolution of mobile ARPU in Venezuela-major operators-2006-2008
Table 23-Market share of mobile market by technology-2004-2009
Table 24-Movilnet-mobile subscribers-2000-2010
Table 25-Movistar subscribers-2000-2009
Table 26-Digitel subscribers-2003-2010
Table 27-Mobile prepaid/postpaid ratio-1997-2009
Table 28-SMS messages sent-2002-2009
Table 29-Forecast fixed lines-higher growth scenario-2010; 2015; 2020
Table 30-Forecast fixed lines-lower growth scenario-2010; 2015; 2020
Table 31-Forecast broadband subscribers-higher growth scenario-2010; 2015; 2020
Table 32-Forecast broadband subscribers-lower growth scenario-2010; 2015; 2020
Table 33-Forecast mobile subscribers-higher growth scenario-2010; 2015; 2020
Table 34-Forecast mobile subscribers-lower growth scenario-2010; 2015; 2020
Exhibit 1-Fixed-line operators in Venezuela
Exhibit 2-Telecom Venezuela
Exhibit 3-CANTV at a glance
Exhibit 4-Major submarine cable networks landing in Venezuela
Exhibit 5-Mobile telephony in Venezuela-historical overview-1991-2000
Exhibit 6-Mobile telephony in Venezuela-licensing regions
Exhibit 7-Movistar-company history
Exhibit 8-Digitel-historical
Exhibit 9-Infonet-historical
Exhibit 10-Digicel-historical