Essential Guide to Telecommunications, The, Third Edition

Latin America

Although most countries in Latin America have privatized their telecommunications industries, competitors have a small share of the fixed-line market. Major competitive focuses are on high-speed Internet and intracompany data connections for businesses and cellular services. The three largest countries in Latin America are Brazil, Mexico and Argentina. Table 10.1 indicates the low penetration of telephone lines and mobile phones in these three countries in 1999. In Paraguay (60%) and Venezuela (57%), more people have cellular than fixed-line phones.

Telefonica SA, the incumbent telephone company in Spain, has the largest presence in Latin America of any single company. In November 1999, it owned one of three phone lines in Latin ...