 Ecuador: Telecoms and technology background
FROM THE ECONOMIST INTELLIGENCE UNIT
Ecuador is the smallest communications market in the Andean region after Bolivia. The market for telecommunications services and equipment was estimated by the US Foreign Commercial Service at around US$1.2bn in 2003, with an estimated growth rate of 10-15% to 2005 (mostly accounted for by the services market).
Ecuador has been slow to implement the market-oriented reforms that have taken place elsewhere in Latin America and plans for part-privatisation of the state-owned telecoms companies have so far failed to come to fruition, holding back the development of the fixed-line sector.
Most of the increase in supply of telecoms services in recent years has come from expansion of the mobiles subsector; basic telephone service is still poor. State-owned Andinatel, Pacifictel and Etapa provide basic telephone services, while two private operators, Otecel and Conecel (operating under the brand names Movistar and Porta respectively), provide nationwide cellular telephone services, with a third company, Telecsa (which is a joint venture between the two state-owned fixed-line operators), providing cellular services in the capital, Quito, and Guayaquil.
To obtain full coverage of this market, please click here.
Useful links:
SOURCE: The Economist Intelligence Unit
|
