Operators Focus on 3g Development as Uncertainty Around the Allocation of 4g Spectrum Continues: El Salvador: Jsbmarketresearch

El Salvador: Operators Focus on 3G Development as Uncertainty around the Allocation of 4G Spectrum Continues

Released on 14th March 2016

Summary

With revenue of $1.1bn in 2015, or 4.5% of GDP, the Salvadorian telecom and pay-TV services market is the third smallest in Latin America, beating only Bolivia and Nicaragua, both of which have lower PPP-adjusted GDP per capita levels. Pyramid Research expects total telecom service revenue will grow at a modest 1.4% CAGR between 2015 and 2020 to reach $1.2bn in 2020.

Key Findings

- Mobile subscriptions in El Salvador reached 9.2m at year-end 2015, resulting in a population penetration rate of 143.0%, above the regional average of 125%. Looking ahead, we expect mobile subscriptions in El Salvador to grow at a modest 1.2% CAGR between 2015 and 2020, to reach 9.7m and a penetration rate of 147.5%. Growth will mainly come from mobile operators attracting first-time subscribers as they expand their network footprint to suburban and rural areas of the country.

- The mobile market in El Salvador is considerably competitive, with five operators present in a relatively small market and none controlling more than 35% of subscriptions. Tigo is the largest mobile network operator in El Salvador with 2.9m subscribers and a 32.0% share at year-end 2015. The operator is followed by Claro and Digicel with 29.1% and 22.8% shares, respectively. Movistar, a distant fourth player, captured 15.7% of total subscriptions. Intelfon, operating under the RED brand, is the smallest operator with a 0.4% share at year-end 2015, providing services using iDEN technology.

- The Salvadorian government has been slow on issuing wireless spectrum for the improvement and deployment of mobile broadband services in the country. In fact, El Salvador is one of the few countries in Latin America that has not yet seen the commercial launch of LTE services.

- Broadband lines reached 362,000 at year-end 2015, equating to a...