Panama increases connectivity via the Aurora and Caribbean Express cables
Panama has seen a steady increase in revenue from the telecom sector in recent years. Mobile services and broadband remain the key growth sectors, with mobile connections accounting for 90% of all connections, and over half of telecom sector revenue.The mobile sector has flourished since the arrival of Digicel Panamá in 2008 and of América Móvil in 2009, which ended the duopoly long enjoyed by Cable & Wireless Panamá and Telefónica's Movistar. Millicom International Cellular (trading as Tigo) acquired Telefónica's telecom assets in Panama in 2019. The mobile market has effective competition among these players.
Internet penetration has grown in recent years as consumers responded to government fixed-line projects, improved mobile broadband connectivity and a plethora of mobile applications.
The publisher notes that the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic continues to have a significant impact on production and supply chains globally. Since 2020 the telecoms sector, to various degrees, has experienced a downturn in mobile device production. It was also difficult for network operators to manage workflows when maintaining and upgrading existing infrastructure. Overall progress towards 5G has been postponed or slowed down in some countries.
On the consumer side, spending on telecoms services and devices is under pressure from the financial effect of large-scale job losses and the consequent restriction on disposable incomes. However, the crucial nature of telecom services, both for general communication as well as a tool for home working, has offset such pressures. In many markets the net effect will continue to be a steady though reduced increased in subscriber growth.
Although it is challenging to predict and interpret the long-term impacts of the pandemic, these have been acknowledged in the industry forecasts contained in this report.
The report also covers the responses of the telecom operators as well as government agencies and regulators as they react to the crisis to ensure that citizens can continue to make optimum use of telecom services. This can be reflected in subsidy schemes and the promotion of tele-health and tele-education, among other solutions.
This report update includes the regulator's market data to September 2021, operator data to September 2021, Telecom Maturity Index charts and analyses, assessment of the global impact of COVID-19 on the telecoms sector, and other recent market developments.
Key Developments:
Liberty Latin America reaches agreement with América Móvil to acquire Claro Panamá for $200 million.Movistar and Cable Onda are rebranded as Tigo.
Panama's Digital Transformation and Inclusion Strategy Aid Program secures a $350 million loan.
Regulator extends temporary spectrum allocations in the AWS band.
Aurora cable system expected to be ready for service at the end of 2022.
Caribbean Express submarine cable system is launched.
This product will be updated with the latest data at the time of order. Consequently, dispatch time for this product will be 7-10 business days.
Table of Contents
- Key statistics
- Regional Latin America market comparison
- Market characteristics
- Market Leaders
- Market Challengers
- Market Emergents
- TMI versus GDP
- Mobile and mobile broadband penetration
- Fixed versus mobile broadband penetration
- Country overview
- COVID-19 and its impact on the telecom sector
- Economic considerations and responses
- Subscribers
- Infrastructure
- Telecommunications market
- Historical overview
- Market analysis
- Regulatory environment
- Regulatory authorities
- ASEP
- ACODECO
- Fixed-line developments
- Privatisation of INTEL
- Telecom sector liberalisation
- Interconnect
- Number Portability (NP)
- Mobile network developments
- Spectrum auction - 2008
- Licence concession - 2013
- 700MHz spectrum
- AWS spectrum
- 1.5GHz
- Infrastructure sharing
- Mobile Number Portability (MNP)
- Mobile market
- Mobile statistics
- Mobile data
- Mobile broadband
- Mobile infrastructure
- 5G
- 4G (LTE)
- 3G
- GSM
- Towers
- Major mobile operators
- +Móvil (C&WP)
- Movistar (Telefonica Moviles Panama)
- Digicel Panamá
- Claro Panamá (América Móvil)
- Tigo Panama
- Fixed-line broadband market
- Market analysis
- Broadband statistics
- Red Nacional de Internet (RNI)
- Hybrid Fibre Coax (HFC) networks
- Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) networks
- G.fast
- Fibre-to-the-Premises (FttP) networks
- WiMAX
- Satellite broadband
- Digital economy
- e-Government
- e-Health
- e-Payments
- Smart Cities
- Fixed network operators
- Introduction
- Cable & Wireless Panamá
- Tigo (Cable Onda/Telecarrier)
- Advanced Communication Network (ACN)
- ClaroCOM (Galaxy Communications Corp)
- Optynex Telecom
- Movistar
- Ufinet
- Telecommunications infrastructure
- National telecom network
- Fixed-line statistics
- International infrastructure
- Interconnection with other Central American countries
- Submarine cable networks
- Satellite networks
- Infrastructure developments
- Wireless Local Loop (WLL)
- Wholesale
- Appendix - Historic data
- Glossary of abbreviations
- Related reports
List of Tables
List of Charts
List of Exhibits
Companies Mentioned
- Amorica Móvil
- Cable and Wireless Panama
- Claro
- Cable Onda
- FP Telecommunications
- Optynex Telecom
- Digicel
- Ericsson
- Huawei
- Liberty Latin America (LLA)
- Millicom International Cellular (MIC)
- Movistar
- Ocean Networks
- Tigo Panama.
