5 Jul 2011Paraguay Broadband Overview

In 1995, the Paraguayan government liberalized the mobile and Internet segments to encourage the entry of new competitors into the market. Compañía Paraguaya de Comunicaciones S.A. (Copaco) formerly ANATEL is the state owned incumbent telecom operator in Paraguay with a monopoly over fixed line telephony services. With the fixed line segment of the telecoms market still owned by the government, infrastructure-based competition and investment has not been forthcoming.

Failure to adequately encourage broadband growth has led to a very low broadband penetration rate. Paraguay has one of the lowest Internet and broadband penetration rates in South America. By Q3 2010, broadband penetration was 7.1 per cent. But not all is doom and gloom in Paraguay. Due to the patchy fixed-line infrastructure in the region, operators in this market were left with virtually no other choice but to use wireless technology. In contrast to the broadband sector, Paraguay’s mobile sector is far more dynamic. New investment and competition have led to exceptional growth in the take-up of innovative new mobile services.