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Tigo’s 3G subscribers reaches the mark of 10,000 (Colombia)

  • December 1st, 2008
  • 6:01 am

Tigo, Colombian Mobile Operator has signed 10,000 subscribers in 3G segment, according to a local media report. The services are offered in capital Bogotá, as well as in Cali, Barranquilla, Bucaramanga and Cartagena. In October, the services have been instigated including mobile broadband for both prepaid and post-paid subscribers. Comcel, the strong contender in Colombian mobile market is also providing 3G in Colombia. Although, Movistar of Spain’s Telefónica anticipates to launch 3G services soon.

Comcel expands its 3.5G services to 371 cities and municipalities in Colombia

  • November 26th, 2008
  • 10:25 am

Comcel, the Colombian mobile operator provides its 3.5G services in 371 cities and municipalities across the country after the launch of services back in February. The operator has its presence in 29 departments with 3.5G services.

   

Govt on the brink of awarding 3G licence (Colombia)

  • November 1st, 2008
  • 6:32 am

Colombia’s communications ministry is close to awarding spectrum for 3G services to local mobile operator Tigo, owned by Luxembourg’s Millicom International Cellular, media reported. Communications Minister María del Rosario Guerra, said ‘We are about to award Tigo 10MHz of additional spectrum’. Both America Movil’s Comcel and Movistar, owned by Telefonica, will also receive additional spectrum for 3G services, minister added.

‘We are already negotiating with these two operators,’ the official said. As the spectrum would be awarded for coverage expansion and development of new technologies, so the operators did not need to participate in a bidding process.

Voila launches voice SMS service in Haiti

  • October 31st, 2008
  • 5:28 am

Comcel, the GSM service provider under the brand name Voila claims to launch country’s first voice SMS service. Comcel has reportedly invested nearly $200Mn in Haiti till date.

   

Colombia totals its subscriber base to 37.59Mn in 3Q

  • October 22nd, 2008
  • 6:17 am

Colombia mobile phone subscribers grows to 37.59 million as of the end of September, up 5.2% from 35.74 million at the end of June. Comcel holds the biggest sector of the mobile market with 24.18 million subscribers up from 22.72 million at the end of June, according to the regulator. 64% of the Colombian mobile market is controlled by Comcel. Spain’s Telefonica posted 9.70 million subscribers and the company holds 26% of market share. Colombia Movil SA, the local unit of Millicom International Cellular SA (MICC), bags third position with 3.71 million subscribers and MICC’s market share in Colombia is 10%.

In Comparison to the figures of 2007, the number of mobile subscribers at the end of September 2008 was 28% higher than at the end of September 2007. Colombia posted a rise of 17% at the end of 2007 in terms of total number of subscribers compared with the end of 2006. The statistics shows that the number of mobile telephone lines rose 27% in 2006 and more than 100% in 2005 as a result there is a stiff competition between the country’s three operators.

Movistar will continue to earn highest ARPU in 2010 (Colombia)

  • September 9th, 2008
  • 1:38 pm

Colombia’s lowest mobile rates among the Latin American countries leads to higher penetration rate. A 50% cut in mobile termination charges further reduced the average price per minute of mobile calls by up to 30% in the first quarter of 2008. Drop has affected operator’s ARPU but the cut was partly paid off by increase traffic. América Móvil’s Comcel is the leading cellular company in Colombia, followed by Telefónica’s Movistar and Millicom-controlled Colombia Móvil (trading as Tigo).

Operators                        Subscribers (Million) 
Comcel (AMX)                    25.195
Movistar Colombia (TEF)    8.755
Tigo Colombia (MICC)        3.263

Notable highlights of Colombia Mobile Forecast include:

  • The wireless penetration level in Colombia will continue increasing and it will reach 88.7% in 2010. The number of total subscribers in the country will increase from our projected 35.7 million in 2008 to 40.2 million in 2010.
  • Comcel, will see a stabilization of its market share over the forecast period. Comcel’s market share by subscribers will be 65.8% in 2010. Tigo Columbia (the 3rd largest operator) will see an increase in its market share at the expense of Movistar Colombia (the 2nd largest operator). Tigo Colombia will see its market share increase from our projected 9.3% to 10.5% while Movistar’s market share decreases from 24.6% to 23.8% over the 2008-2010 forecast period.
  • Back in 4Q06, Tigo Colombia replaced Movistar as the operator with the highest ARPU in Colombia. It is expected that this trend will continue during the forecast period, with Tigo Colombia registering the highest ARPU of US$ 14.49 per month in 2010.  Comcel will continue to receive the lowest ARPU among operators in Colombia at US$ 11.03 per month in 2010. Overall, Colombia will be the market where consumers pay the second lowest ARPU in Latin America, after Peru, with average ARPUs of US$ 11.81 per month forecasted in 2010.
  • Expecting  relative stability in EBITDA margins across the operator space with Comcel having the highest EBITDA margins at 53.2% in 2010.

Guatemala adds 3 mln mobile users in 2007 (Guatemala)

  • January 15th, 2008
  • 12:23 pm

Guatemala gained almost 3 million new mobile phone users last year, taking the total to 10.15 million, said Oscar Chinchilla, head of the telecoms regulator Suptel. That takes mobile penetration to 75 penetration, one of the highest rates in the region, writes local paper El Periodico. The strong growth last year was helped by mobile kits selling for as little as GTQ 100 with the same amount of airtime and operators offering triple the value of airtime on certain days of the week. At the end of 2007, Comcel was market leader with 41 percent of subscribers, followed by America Movil’s Claro with 34 percent and Movistar with 25 percent. Some 93 percent of subscribers use prepaid services. Comcel said it expects growth to continue this year and to add another 1 million lines.

   

Colombian mobile subscriber base grows to 29.45 mln (Colombia)

  • October 18th, 2007
  • 2:34 pm

Colombia had 29.45 million mobile phone subscribers at end-September, up from 28.55 million at end-June, according to figures from the country’s trade & industry superintendence (SIC). Of the total, Comcel accounted for 19.24 million, up from 18.53 million at end-June; Movistar Colombia for 7.55 million, down from 7.61 million; and Colombia Movil-Tigo for 2.67 million, up from 2.4 million. The total base rose by 904,996 versus end-June. Movistar received 13,064 complaints about its service in Q3, down from 19,625 in Q2. Comcel had 11,968 complaints, down from 13,689, and Tigo had 9,663 complaints, up from 9,113.

   

America Movil to spend USD250m to expand Claro in Guatemala (Guatemala)

  • August 30th, 2007
  • 3:35 pm

Mexico’s America Movil has revealed plans to spend USD250 million over the next two years to expand network coverage at its Guatemalan mobile subsidiary Claro. The expansion will include the deployment of some 1,000 new base stations across the country, boosting its total to 1,600 by the end of 2008.

There are five players in the Guatemalan mobile market,Claro (previously known as PCS Digital), Comcel, Telefónica Móviles Guatemala (Movistar), Electronica Industrial and Digicel Holdings — though the last two have yet to launch services. Claro is market leader, with around 41.3% of all subscribers by 31 March 2007, while the former monopoly operator Comcel holds second place with 37.3% of the market. Telefonica consolidated its position in 2004 when it acquired the operations of rival operator BellSouth, although it is still some way behind Comcel in terms of customer numbers, with the remaining 21.4%.

   
 

 

Colombia adds half million new mobile users in Q2

  • July 19th, 2007
  • 3:14 pm

Colombia gained another 504,653 new mobile users in the second quarter for a total 28.548 million at the end of June, according to figures from the superintendent for commerce and industry. Telefonica Moviles, which operates under the brand Movistar, added 66,641 new clients in Q2 for a total 7.612 million at the end of June. Colombia Movil, the owner of the brand Tigo, conquered 159,919 users in Q2, for a total base of 2.404 million. Comcel gained 278,093 new users, taking its base to 18.533 million.