Telecommunications market of VenezuelaPhone Cards, Calling Cards |
| Together with deregulation and privatisation, conditions are favourable for broadband providers in Venezuela. In 2004, broadband growth was remarkable, especially ADSL which doubled year-on-year. The government has made the promotion of the Internet a national priority. As part of a campaign to popularise Internet usage, prepaid Internet services are available in cybercafés and in multi-user kiosks. A government Wireless Internet Project, financed the UNDP, uses WiFi technology as a means of expanding Internet access nationwide. By June 2005, the residents of six districts in Caracas enjoyed free wireless broadband access. Convergence strategies offer promising prospects in Venezuela. Of the three major cable TV companies, NetUno and Intercable have adopted the Triple-Play scheme. |
| Second only to the oil industry, the Venezuelan telecom sector is the most important business in the country. It has been open to competition since 2000. There are 11 companies licensed to provide local telephony and 14 long distance telephony. Cantv, the incumbent telco, still controls most of the fixed-lines in services, but its share (82% in mid-2005) is gradually decreasing. Following the severe recession of 2001-2003, the country’s telecom market made an outstanding recovery in 2004, and growth is continuing apace in 2005. The highest growth rates are in the mobile and Internet sectors. This report provides an overview of Venezuela’s telecom infrastructure and regulatory environment, together with brief profiles of main fixed network operators and statistical data. |
| Venezuela has one of Latin America’s most advanced mobile markets. Cellular phones outstripped fixed lines in September 1999. The political and economic troubles of 2002-2003 hurt the cellular business, but the mobile market turned around in mid-2003, and grew 28% in 2004. Leading mobile provider Movistar (48% market share), previously known as Telcel and owned by BellSouth, came under the control of Spain’s Telefónica Móviles in October 2004. Both Movistar and Cantv’s Movilnet offer CDMA2000-1x services since November 2002, providing high-speed data transmission and Internet access. Movilnet was the first company in Venezuela to launch 1xEV-DO technology, in February 2005. TIM is again looking for a buyer for its Venezuelan GSM unit Digitel, since its sale to Cantv fell through in May 2005. |
| Venezuela Phone Cards |