Bolivia - Telecoms, Mobile and Broadband

Executive summary

One of the poorest and least developed Latin American nations, Bolivia has one of the lowest rates of mobile penetration and fixed-line teledensity in Latin America.

The government of Bolivia is facing protracted legal action from Telecom Italia, which refused the government’s offer of US$100 million for the renationalisation of a 50% stake in the country’s incumbent long-distance operator Entel. The Italian telco is claiming US$1 billion compensation. The Bolivian authorities, in turn, have found the Italian telco guilty of tax evasion.

Besides long-distance services, Entel is Bolivia’s leading mobile company, with a 40% share of the market. It also offers local telephony and ADSL broadband.

Bolivia has a multicarrier system where consumers can choose their long-distance carrier for each call by dialling the carrier’s prefix. Several cooperatives and private companies offer local and long-distance telephony. A number of operators have adopted VoIP, while others use fixed-wireless technologies, and some rent fibre optic capacity.

Mobile subscribers have outnumbered fixed lines in service since 2000. Of the total estimated number of telephones in Bolivia at end-2009, 10% were fixed and 90% were mobile. Besides Entel, Millicom’s Tigo and Trilogy’s Viva provide GSM services.

While ADSL, cable modem, and WiMAX technologies are all available in Bolivia, the broadband market is still embryonic. Even so, the number of operators offering broadband to residential and business customers has increased significantly, and this has led to some reduction in the price of Internet access.

Market highlights:

• Since renationalisation, Entel has been expanding its mobile network under a project known as ‘Territory with Total Coverage’, aimed at providing telecom services to all Colombians, including those living in small rural villages.
• In February 2010, Oruro became the first Bolvian department with full mobile telephony coverage.
• Bolivia plans to launch its own satellite, to be named Tupac Katari, primarily to provide telecom services in isolated rural areas.
• Several operators have launched VoIP, though only licensed telephone companies are allowed to offer it, as it is considered a voice service rather than a value added service.

Lucia Bibolini

February 2010

Table of Contents

• 1. Executive summary
• 2. Key statistics
• 3. Telecommunications market
  • 3.1 Country overview
  • 3.2 Overview of Bolivia’s telecom market
• 4. Regulatory environment
  • 4.1 Background
  • 4.2 Regulatory authority
    • 4.2.1 ATT (previously Sittel)
  • 4.3 Privatisation of Entel
  • 4.4 Renationalisation of Entel
  • 4.5 Telecom sector liberalisation in Bolivia
  • 4.6 Per-second billing
  • 4.7 Total Coverage project
• 5. Fixed network operators in Bolivia
  • 5.1 Overview of operators
  • 5.2 Entel
  • 5.3 Cooperatives
    • 5.3.1 Cotel
    • 5.3.2 Cotas and Teledata
    • 5.3.3 Cotes
    • 5.3.4 Comteco and BoliviaTel
• 6. Telecommunications infrastructure
  • 6.1 National telecom network
    • 6.1.1 Fixed-line statistics
    • 6.1.2 Public payphones
  • 6.2 International infrastructure
    • 6.2.1 Submarine cable networks
    • 6.2.2 Satellite networks
  • 6.3 Infrastructure developments
    • 6.3.1 Wireless Local Loop (WLL)
    • 6.3.2 IP and Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP)
• 7. Broadband access market
  • 7.1 Overview
    • 7.1.1 Internet/broadband statistics
  • 7.2 WiMAX
  • 7.3 Media convergence
• 8. Broadcasting
• 9. Mobile communications
  • 9.1 Overview of Bolivia’s mobile market
    • 9.1.1 Mobile statistics
  • 9.2 Mobile technologies
  • 9.3 Major mobile operators
    • 9.3.1 Entel Movil
    • 9.3.2 Tigo (Telecel)
    • 9.3.3 Viva (NuevaTel)
    • 9.3.4 Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNOs)
  • 9.4 Mobile voice services
    • 9.4.1 Prepaid
  • 9.5 Mobile satellite
• 10. Related reports

• Table 1 – Country statistics Bolivia – 2009
• Table 2 – Telephone network statistics – 2009
• Table 3 – Internet user statistics – 2009
• Table 4 – Broadband statistics – 2009
• Table 5 – Mobile statistics – 2009
• Table 6 – National telecommunications authority
• Table 7 – Evolution of GDP in Bolivia – 2000 - 2010
• Table 8 – Fixed-line / mobile market share – 1996 - 2010
• Table 9 – Entel – ADSL subscribers – 2003 - 2009
• Table 10 – Entel – fixed lines in service – 2000 - 2009
• Table 11 – Fixed lines in service and teledensity – 1996 - 2010
• Table 12 – Public payphones in service - 1998 - 2009
• Table 13 – Internet users and user penetration rate - 1997 - 2010
• Table 14 – Dial-up subscribers – 1997 - 2009
• Table 15 – Broadband subscribers and penetration rates – 2002 - 2010
• Table 16 – Mobile subscribers and penetration rate - 1997 - 2010
• Table 17 – Mobile market share by operator - 2003 - 2009

• Exhibit 1 – Entel Bolivia at a glance
• Exhibit 2 – Major submarine cable network linked to Bolivia