Industry overview：Uraguay-Telecoms, Mobile and Broadband

Sept. 13, 2010 - PRLog -- Summary

Uruguay is one of the regional leaders in several key indicators, such as adult literacy, Internet penetration, and teledensity. Mobile telephony and broadband have been the fastest growing telecom sectors, accounting for an increasing portion of the country's total telecom revenues. As a result of the economic slowdown, however, the telecom market is likely to remain flat in 2009.

Despite being a state-owned monopoly, Uruguay's local fixed line market has achieved the second highest teledensity in Latin America after Costa Rica (bar a few of the wealthier Caribbean islands), but fixed line growth has begun to stagnate in favour of mobile phones.

With one of the highest literacy rates in Latin America and around 50% of households having their own PC, Uruguay is one of the world's leading software exporters and Latin America's outsourcing hub. Uruguay has numerous telecentres that offer Internet and long-distance telephony services. A government universal access program has installed community access centres and supplied schools throughout the country with free Internet connection.

Uruguay's mobile penetration is about 39% above the Latin American average. This is an outstanding performance, considering that in 2004, before market liberalisation, Uruguay had one of the lowest mobile penetration rates in the region.

Key highlights:
*Uruguay's mobile penetration is about 110%, having passed the 100% mark in August 2008. All three mobile operators (state-owned Ancel, Telef¨®nica's Movistar, and Am¨¦rica M¨®vil's Claro) have launched 3G services. For more information, see chapter 11.4, page 21.
*Uruguay is one of the few countries in the world where broadband access via cable modem is prohibited. There has been talk of regulatory changes to legalise cable broadband, as it would allow triple play solutions and foster greater dynamisms in the broadband market. For more information, see chapter 8, page 12.
*The Uruguayan government has launched a program dubbed Cardales, aimed at providing Internet access, pay TV, and telephony to all Uruguayan families that do not already have these services. For more information, see chapter 10.2, page 15.
*The outlook for cable TV in 2009 is not promising. In fact, cable TV has been the first telecom sector to feel the effects of the downturn, with the number of subscribers declining 1.5% in the in the second half of 2008. For more information, see chapter 10.3, page 15.
*Uruguay is deploying digital terrestrial TV, having become the first Latin American country to adopt Europe's DVB standard. For more information, see chapter 10.4, page 17.






Table of Contents

1. Synopsis

2. Key statistics

3. Country overview

4. Telecommunications market

4.1 Overview of Uruguay's telecom market

4.2 Market analysis-2007-2009

5. Regulatory environment

5.1 Regulatory authority

5.1.1 Unidad Reguladora de Servicios de Comunicaciones (URSEC)

5.2 Telecom sector liberalisation in Uruguay

5.3 Privatisation of Antel

6. Fixed network operators in Uruguay

6.1 Overview of operators

6.2 Antel

7. Telecommunications infrastructure

7.1 National telecom network

7.1.1 Fixed-line statistics

7.1.2 Public payphones

7.2 International infrastructure

7.2.1 Submarine cable networks

7.2.2 Satellite networks

8. Internet market

8.1 Overview

8.1.1 Internet statistics

8.2 Ceibal project

9. Broadband market

9.1 Overview

9.1.1 Broadband statistics

9.2 Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line (ADSL)

9.3 Wireless broadband

9.3.1 WiFi

9.3.2 WiMAX

9.4 Broadband providers

10. Content and e-services

11. Convergence

11.1 Overview of media convergence

11.2 Triple Play

11.3 Pay TV

11.4 Digital terrestrial TV

12. Mobile communications

12.1 Overview of Uruguay's mobile market

12.1.1 Mobile statistics

12.2 Regulatory issues

12.2.1 Spectrum auctions

12.3 Mobile technologies and mobile data services

12.3.1 Digital

12.3.2 Third generation (3G) mobile

12.4 Major mobile operators

12.4.1 Movistar

12.4.2 Ancel

12.4.3 Claro (previously CTI M¨®vil)

12.5 Mobile data services

12.6 Mobile voice services

12.6.1 Satellite mobile

13. Related reports

Table 1-Country statistics Uruguay-2008
Table 2-Telephone network statistics-2008
Table 3-Internet user statistics-2008
Table 4-Broadband statistics-2008
Table 5-Mobile statistics-2008
Table 6-National telecommunications authority
Table 7-Telecom operating revenues and sector breakdown-2005-2007
Table 8-Fixed lines in service and teledensity-1997-2008
Table 9-Public payphones-1997-2008
Table 10-Internet users and user penetration rate-1999-2008
Table 11-Internet Dial-up customers-2003-2008
Table 12-Broadband subscribers and penetration rates-2005-2008
Table 13-Anteldata-ADSL subscribers-2003-2008
Table 14-Pay TV subscribers and penetration rates-2001-2008
Table 15-Pay TV market share-2008
Table 16-Mobile subscribers by operator and technology-2008
Table 17-Mobile subscribers and penetration rate-1997-2008
Table 18-Market share by mobile operators-2000-2008
Table 19-Movistar-mobile subscribers-2000-2008
Table 20-Ancel-mobile subscribers-1999-2008
Table 21-Claro-mobile subscribers-2004-2008
Exhibit 1-Licensed ILD operators in Uruguay-January 2009
Exhibit 2-Antel at a glance
Exhibit 3-Major submarine cable network landing in Uruguay

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