 TELECOMMUNICATIONS |
Guatemala's Telecommunications Law guarantees private sector participation in the telecommunications industry. Four different operators now offer service in Guatemala and the number of customers has grown from 360,000 in 1996 to well over 700,000 in 2000.
One of the fastest growing sub-sectors within this industry is wireless telephony. Cellular Communications of Guatemala COMCEL formerly the only wireless service provider, offers today the number 1 service to more than 120,000 customers.
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"We had set an example for Central America for all industries not only for telecommunications. We have become probably the second or first largest company of the country in terms of growth and we are extremely happy with it. We are doubling our profits each year. This year will end up with US$150,000,000 in revenues for Guatemala," said an enthusiastic General Manager, Mr Jose Maria Coma.
In 1997, before being privatized, TELGUA awarded US based NORTEL a contract to install a wireless Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) network. The first phase of the project was completed by the time of the TELGUA sale. The system today is operative and COMCEL customers are switching from analog to digital technology. Competition in the wireless industry got stronger when Telefónica de España announced its intention to invest more than US$250 million in infrastructure for mobile and stationary telephony in Guatemala in 1999 and US BellSouth Communications announced earlier this year a US$200 million investment strategy in the sub-sector during the next 2 years. Imports of telecommunications equipment are projected to grow at a rate of approximately 30 per cent per year during the next five years. |
