All Business News

The Covid-19 pandemic had a relatively minor impact on the Philippine’s telecom sector in 2020. Subscriber numbers fell in some areas, but this was offset by strong growth in mobile data and broadband usage since a significant proportion of the population transitioned to working or studying from home.

The Moldovan telecom market has been affected by a combination of high unemployment and economic difficulties which have led to constraints on consumer spend.

Latvia’s telecom market continues to benefit from investment and from regulatory measures aimed at developing 5G and fibre-based infrastructure.

The economic prosperity of Bosnia-Herzegovina (BiH) largely rests with the country’s continuing integration with the EU. GDP growth was inconsistent for several years before 2015, since when the economy had grown at above 3% annually.

Jamaica’s telecom sector has for many years been propped up by the mobile sector, which accounts for the vast majority of internet connections and voice lines – as well as just over half of telecom sector revenue.

Although Bolivia had enjoyed strong economic growth prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, GDP remains among the lowest in South America.

In common with several other mid-sized countries in the region, Ecuador has a small telecom market dominated by the mobile sector.

Honduras is among the poorest countries in Central America and has long been plagued by an unstable political framework which has rendered telecom sector reform difficult.

Estonia’s competitive telecom market continues to progress with a range of regulatory measures which have enabled alternative operators to chip away at the fixed-line market share of the incumbent telco Telia Estonia. Fixed-line infrastructure upgrades have been focussed on fibre, and the legacy DSL network has gradually been replaced.

Poland’s liberalised telecom market has seen considerable development in the broadband and mobile sectors. The incumbent telco, Orange Poland, dominates the broadband market and has invested in fibre infrastructure to support the growing adoption of bundled services among customers.

The demand for data-based services in the Pacific region is growing, aligning with similar trends around the world. In particular, the demand for mobile broadband is increasing due to mobile services being the primary and most wide-spread source for internet access across the region.

Venezuela’s fixed-line teledensity was relatively high for the region before the steady growth in the number of lines came to an end in 2015. Since then, the number of lines has plummeted, and by late 2020 teledensity had fallen to about 18.6%.

Cuba’s telecom sector remains a peculiarity, with state control having stymied rather than promoted the development of all sectors.

Slovenia’s telecom sector is dominated by four operators and following significant regulatory efforts to develop competition the incumbent telco Telekom Slovenije faces stiffening challenges from operators such as A1 Slovenia and Telemach.

Slovakia’s incumbent telco Slovak Telekom retains its dominance of the fixed-line voice and broadband sector, though there is effective competition in the mobile market, where most investment is being channelled. The main operators including O2 Slovakia and Orange Slovakia have expanded into offering bundled fixed and mobile services.

With a population approaching 125 million and with relatively low broadband and mobile penetration, Mexico’s telecom sector retains significant potential for growth.

A major drawback for Paraguay’s telecom sector is that the country is landlocked, making it dependent on neighbouring countries for interconnection with submarine cable networks.

Fixed-line teledensity in Papua New Guinea has seen little change over the past two decades. Progress in the country’s telecom sector has come primarily from mobile networks, where accessibility has expanded considerably in recent years, with population coverage increasing from less than 3% in 2006 to more than 90% by early 2021.

Timor-Leste has been moving forward with the regeneration of its economy and rebuilding key infrastructure, including telecommunications networks, that were destroyed during the years of civil unrest.

Guatemala’s telecom infrastructure has suffered from years of underinvestment from state and provincial governments.

Suriname is the smallest nation on the South American continent, with about 580,000 inhabitants. The only Dutch-speaking nation in South America, it has close affinities with the Caribbean, and is a member of the Caribbean Community and Common Market (CARICOM).

Haiti’s economic and social indicators remain far lower than the average for Latin America and the Caribbean.

For many years Oman’s mobile market was a duopoly between the incumbent telco Omantel and its challenger Ooredoo Oman.

Fiji has a relatively sophisticated communications infrastructure with the highest mobile and internet penetration in the Pacific Islands. It is the leading market to watch in terms of both LTE and 5G development in this region.

For many years, GSM was the primary mobile technology for Vanuatu’s 300,000 people.

Samoa was one of the first Pacific Island countries to establish a regulatory infrastructure and to liberalise its telecom market.

The South Pacific region has become a hub for submarine cable system developments in recent years, with further networks scheduled to come online later in 2021 and into 2022.

French Polynesia has one of the more advanced telecoms infrastructures for the Pacific Islands region.

Serbia’s telecom industry has been liberalised in line with the principles of the EU’s regulatory framework for communications, focussed on encouraging competition in telecom products and services, and ensuring universal access.

Albania’s small telecom market has experienced some significant changes in recent years. Following its acquisition of the ISP ABCom, Vodafone Albania in early 2021 committed to invest €100 million to upgrade its fixed-line infrastructure.

For many years Uzbekistan has been struggling to bring its telecommunications system up to the standard found in developed countries.

Lithuania’s small telecoms market is among the more advanced in Europe, particularly given the universal access to LTE infrastructure and the extensive fibre footprint.

The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia was renamed as the Republic of North Macedonia in February 2019.