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| Panama Telecommunications Research |
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 Panama - Telecoms, Mobile, Broadband and Forecasts
Panama's telecom market is one of the most advanced in Central America. With the region's second-highest GDP growth forecast for 2009, plus two new competitors entering the mobile market, the outlook is promising for mobile telephony in Panama.
Until December 2008, Telefónica's Movistar and C&WP's +Movil were the only mobile operators in Panama, vying neck-and-neck for market share. But their duopoly has come to an end with the market entry of Digicel and América Móvil's Claro.
In basic telephony, on the other hand, competition has been slower to develop; the incumbent Cable & Wireless Panamá (C&WP) still controls around 86% of the country's fixed lines in service, but the long distance sector is highly competitive.
Compared with the rest of Central America, Panama's fixed-line teledensity is about 11% higher than the regional average, which is consistent with the country's economic indicators, while mobile penetration is 33% higher.
Panama's geographical position and connection to numerous submarine cables have made it a burgeoning business hub and strategic location for telecom companies and Internet Data Centres. The country's broadband market has the highest broadband penetration in Central America.
Key Highlights
· Mobile number portability is to be implemented in Panama by April 2010.
· Triple play is gaining popularity; Cable Onda, the dominant cable TV operator, offers cable modem broadband and VoIP telephony over its coaxial and fibre optic cable.
· Movistar launched a UMTS network in December 2008. It is the only company offering 3G services, with coverage only over Panama City.
· Two new companies are bringing new competition to the Panamanian mobile market: Digicel, which began services in December 2008, and América Móvil's Claro, expected to launch services in April 2009.
Lucia Bibolini
April 2009
Last Update: 29 Apr 2009 Number of Pages: 35
Single User: USD $235.00 ex-GST View Table of Contents
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