Colombia - Fixed-Line Market & Infrastructure - Background Report

Synopsis

Colombia has about 30 local telephony providers, operating municipally, regionally, or nationally. Many of these started as private companies, but later became public concerns owned by their respective municipalities. Three companies dominate the country’s fixed-line market: Telefónica Telecom, which is partly state-owned, and UNE-EPM and ETB, which are wholly owned by the local governments of Medellin and Bogota respectively. Until the long-distance market was liberalised in 2007, Colombia’s long-distance sector was an oligopoly with only three operators: Telefónica, Orbitel-UNE, and ETB. As a result, long-distance call prices remained high, which among other things, contributed to an active black market for VoIP services. This report provides background information for the more regularly updated Colombia - Fixed-Line Market & Infrastructure - Overview, Statistics & Forecasts. As such, it does not cover statistics or forecasts, but contains historical details on the development of Colombia’s fixed-line market and telecom infrastructure that are absent from the more up-to-date report.