Paraguay Telecom Market: Increasing international bandwidth encouraging growth in internet use

Paraguay’s state-owned incumbent, Corporación Paraguaya de Comunicaciones (Copaco), retains a monopoly on all fixed-line voice services, including local telephony, international long distance telephony, and VoIP. In the mobile market, however, there has been competition since 1998. The internet market is also open to competition, and there are over a dozen ISPs offering services. Copaco lost its monopoly over the international backbone for internet connectivity in early 2009.

Unlike Uruguay’s state monopoly Antel, or Costa Rica’s ICE, underinvestment in infrastructure by Copaco has meant that lift Paraguay’s teledensity remains very low. In order for Paraguay’s telecom market to develop and reach greater potential in terms of access and revenue, the operator needs to be radically restructured.

Another major drawback for Copaco and for Paraguay’s telecommunications generally is the country’s landlocked position, which makes it dependant on neighbouring nations for interconnection with submarine cable networks. This has driven up the price of telecom services, particularly broadband.

Paraguay’s fixed broadband penetration is among the lowest in the region, but the market is growing rapidly, primarily in Asunción and other major urban centres. Available technologies include ADSL, cable modem, FttP, and WiMAX. Copaco has a near-monopoly in the ADSL market. ADSL is the main fixed broadband technology, but it is unavailable in much of the country due to low teledensity.

Copaco’s main competitor in the fixed broadband market is Millicom’s Tigo, which offers broadband via cable modem under the brand name Tigo Hogar. The service is available in Asunción and neighbouring towns over a Hybrid Fibre-Coaxial (HFC) network. Tigo also provides broadband using WiMAX and FttP technologies.

Paraguay’s mobile market is served by four operators: Millicom’s Tigo (the market leader), Telecom Argentina’s Personal, América Móvil’s Claro, and Copaco’s Vox.

The mobile network operators have been able to exploit the country’s fixed-line infrastructure, capitalising on consumer preference for mobile services in the absence of reliable fixed-line networks. There are about 18 mobile phones in Paraguay for every fixed-line in service, the highest proportion in Latin America.

The shortcomings of the fixed broadband sector have also helped boost the uptake of mobile broadband, which is available in Paraguay through all four mobile operators using USB modems. As in other Latin American countries, it has become the fastest growing telecom sector. Strong growth is expected to continue in this market, which looks set to follow a similar pattern to voice services.

For more information see - http://www.marketresearchreports.com/paul-budde-communication-pty-ltd/paraguay-telecoms-mobile-broadband-and-forecasts

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