Summary
El Salvador is the smallest country in Central America, with the third largest population. It suffers from extreme income inequality, rampant crime rates, lack of infrastructure, inadequate social capital, and one of the highest homicide rates in the world.
El Salvador's fixed-line teledensity is about 32% higher than average for Central America, while its mobile telephony penetration is about 31% higher-indeed, both are remarkably high compared with the country's other economic indicators.
Fixed-line telephony has been functioning in a competitive environment for many years, with several operators offering local and international telecom services. America Movil's CTE, trading as Telecom, is the incumbent fixed-line operator in the country, with a market share of around 78%.
In the broadband market, CTE has a virtual monopoly over ADSL access, but the country's leading cable TV company, Amnet, offers a triple play service combining telephony, cable modem broadband, and cable television.
Competition in the mobile market is intense, with five operators offering services. The market leader is Millicom's Tigo, followed by América Móvil's Claro. Digicel is gaining ground, having increased its mobile market share from about 7% to 17% in only one year.
Key Highlights
Three operators have deployed WiMAX networks in El Salvador. With a high population density, a growing demand for broadband, and a shortage of fixed lines, El Salvador offers promising prospects for WiMAX investors. For more information, see El Salvador - Telecoms, Mobile and Broadband, chapter 9.3.
Cable TV and triple player Amnet has come under the umbrella of Millicom International, which also owns El Salvador's mobile telephony leader Tigo. For more information, see El Salvador - Telecoms, Mobile and Broadband, chapter 10.2.1.
Both Claro and Tigo have launched 3G mobile services based on WCDMA technology. For more information, see El Salvador - Telecoms, Mobile and Broadband, chapter 11.2.1.
Table of Contents
1. Synopsis
2. Key statistics
3. Country overview
4. Telecommunications market
4.1 Overview of El Salvador's telecom market
5. Regulatory environment
5.1 Telecommunications law
5.2 Regulatory authority
5.2.1 Superintendencia General de Electricidad y Telecomunicaciones (Siget)
5.3 Privatisation of Antel
5.4 Telecom sector liberalisation in El Salvador
5.5 DR-CAFTA
6. Telecom network operators in El Salvador
6.1 Overview of operators
6.2 CTE Telecom (América Móvil)
6.3 Telefónica
7. Telecommunications infrastructure
7.1 National telecom networks
7.2 International infrastructure
7.2.1 Interconnection with other Central American countries
7.2.2 Submarine cable networks
7.3 Infrastructure developments
7.3.1 Wireless Local Loop (WLL)
7.3.2 IP and Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP)
8. Internet market
8.1 Overview
8.1.1 Internet statistics
9. Broadband market
9.1 Overview
9.2 Asymmetrical Digital Subscriber Line (ADSL)
9.3 WiMAX
10. Convergence
10.1 Overview of media convergence
10.2 Cable TV
10.2.1 Amnet
10.3 Satellite TV
11. Mobile communications
11.1 Overview of El Salvador's mobile market
11.1.1 Mobile statistics
11.2 Mobile technologies and data services
11.2.1 Third generation (3G) mobile
11.3 Major mobile operators
11.3.1 Tigo / Telemóvil (Millicom)
11.3.2 Claro / CTE Personal (América Móvil)
11.3.3 Movistar (Telefónica Móviles)
11.3.4 Digicel
11.3.5 RED (Intelfon)
12. Related reports
Table 1-Country statistics El Salvador-2008
Table 2-Telephone network statistics-June 2008
Table 3-Internet user statistics-2007
Table 4-Broadband statistics-June 2008
Table 5-Mobile statistics-2008
Table 6-National telecommunications authority
Table 7-Telecom-fixed lines in service-2003 - 2008
Table 8-Fixed lines in service and teledensity-1996 - 2008
Table 9-Public payphones-1998 - 2008
Table 10-Internet users and penetration rate - 1996 - 2007
Table 11-Broadband subscribers and penetration rates-2003 - 2008
Table 12-ADSL subscribers-2003 - 2008
Table 13-Mobile subscribers by operator and technology-2008
Table 14-Mobile subscribers and penetration rate-1998 - 2008
Table 15-Mobile operators' market share-2003 - 2008
Table 16-Prepaid/postpaid ratio - 2002 - 2008
Table 17-Tigo-mobile subscribers-1996 - 2008
Table 18-Claro-mobile subscribers-2002 - 2008
Table 19-Movistar-mobile subscribers-2000 - 2008
Table 20-Digicel-mobile subscribers-2002 - 2008
Table 21-RED-mobile subscribers-2005 - 2008
Exhibit 1-Americatel versus CTE
