El Salvador Telecoms Market Report

Telecoms, Mobile and Broadband - Statistics and Analyses

Publication Date: July 2025

Report Pages: 120

Analyst: Henry Lancaster

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Summary
Table Of Contents

Telefónica Moviles finally sells its El Salvador unit

Although El Salvador is the smallest country in central America geographically, it has the fourth largest economy in the region. Economic potential is limited by the relatively small population, while the country’s telecom sector has been restricted by poor infrastructure and unequal income distribution. There have been organisational delays which have retarded the development of telecom services, though during the last few years much progress has been evident, and indeed the telecom sector has been one of the more successful within the overall economy.

El Salvador’s fixed-line teledensity is substantially lower than the Latin American and Caribbean average. There has been a significant drop in the number of fixed lines since 2010, particularly in 2017, largely due to the substitution for mobile-only alternatives. About 94% of all telephony lines in the country are on mobile networks.

Mobile penetration is remarkably high considering El Salvador’s economic indicators, being about a third higher than average for Latin America and the Caribbean. The country was one of the last in the region to provide LTE services, mainly due to the inadequate provision of suitable spectrum. The multi-spectrum auction conducted at the end of 2019 has allowed MNOs to improve the reach and quality of their service offerings.

El Salvador’s telecom legislation is one of the more liberal in Latin America, encouraging competition in most areas and permitting foreign investment. However, there are no regulations which promote wholesale broadband, and thus in the DSL market leader Claro retains a virtual monopoly. The only effective cross-platform competition in the broadband market comes from the few cable operators.

There has been some market consolidation in recent years, including Telemóvil’s acquisition of the regional cable TV provider Caribena Cable. In May 2019, the competition authority began assessing the sale of Telefónica El Salvador to América Móvil, which operates in the country under the Claro brand. Due to regulatory hurdles, América Móvil at the end of 2020 decided against buying the company. After some delay, Telefónica sold the unit in October 2021, though at a considerably reduced price.

BuddeComm notes that the pandemic continues to have a significant impact on the telecoms market. On the consumer side, spending on telecoms services and devices is under pressure from the financial effect of large-scale job losses and the consequent restriction on disposable incomes. However, the crucial nature of telecom services, both for general communication as well as a tool for home-working, has offset such pressures. In many markets the net effect has been a reduced (and sometimes negative) subscriber growth.

Overall progress towards 5G has been postponed or curtailed in some countries.

Although it is challenging to predict and interpret the long-term impacts of the crisis as it develops, these have been acknowledged in the industry forecasts contained in this report.

The report also covers the responses of the telecom operators as well as government agencies and regulators as they react to the crisis to ensure that citizens can continue to make optimum use of telecom services. This can be reflected in subsidy schemes and the promotion of tele-health and tele-education, among other solutions.

Key developments:

Telefónica Group sells its El Salvador unit to UK investment firm;
Tigo extends LTE reach to cover 95% of the population;
BT Group sells its Latin American units and assets to CIH Telecommunications Americas;
Millicom selects US-based Affirmed Networks to deploy cloud-based, 5G-ready core network across Latin America;
Tigo launches LTE-A in in parts of San Salvador, Santa Ana, San Miguel, La Union, and La Libertad;
Telefónica to stop offering DTH pay-TV service to the non-renewal of satellite capacity deal with SES in Central America;
Report update includes the regulator’s market data updates for Q2 2021, telcos’ financial and operating data to Q3 2021, updated Telecom Maturity Index charts and analyses, assessment of the global impact of Covid-19 on the telecoms sector; recent market developments.

Companies mentioned in this report:

América Móvil (Claro), Flexenclosure, Millicent International (Tigo), Telefónica (Movistar), Red, GCA Telecom, Salnet, Superintendencia General de Electricidad y Telecomunicaciones (Siget), Amnet, Sky TV, Walmart, SES.

Key statistics
Regional Latin America Market Comparison

Market characteristics
Market Leaders
Market Challengers
Market Emergents
TMI versus GDP
Mobile and mobile broadband penetration
Fixed versus mobile broadband penetration

Country overview
Covid-19 and its impact on the telecom sector

Economic considerations and responses
Subscribers
Infrastructure

Telecommunications market

Market analysis

Regulatory environment

Regulatory authority
Fixed-line developments

Telecom sector liberalisation
Privatisation of Antel
CAFTA-DR

Mobile market developments

Mobile Number Portability (MNP)
Mobile Termination Rate (MTR)
Spectrum auctions

Mobile market

Market analysis
Mobile statistics
Mobile data
Mobile infrastructure

4G (LTE)
3G

Mobile broadband

Other infrastructure developments

Major mobile operators

Tigo (Millicom)
Claro (América Móvil)
Movistar (Telefónica Móviles)
Digicel
Intelfon

Mobile content and applications

Money transfer, mobile payments, and m-banking

Fixed-line broadband market

Market analysis
Broadband statistics
Wireless Local Loop (WLL)

Digital economy

E-Learning

Fixed network operators

Introduction
Claro (América Móvil)
Movistar (Telefónica)

Telecommunications infrastructure

Overview of the national telecom network
International infrastructure

Interconnection with other Central American countries
Submarine cable networks
Satellite networks

Wholesale
Data Centre

Appendix – Historic data
Glossary of abbreviations
Related reports

List of Tables

Table 1 – Top Level Country Statistics and Telco Authorities – El Salvador – 2021 (e)
Table 2 – Evolution of GDP in El Salvador – 2011 – 2021
Table 3 – Telecom revenue by sector ($ million) – 2013 – 2016
Table 4 – Telecom revenue and investment ($ million) – 2014 – 2016
Table 5 – Growth in the number of mobile subscribers and penetration rate – 2011 - 2026
Table 6 – Ratio of prepaid/postpaid mobile subscribers – 2011 - 2021
Table 7 – Change in the number of prepaid/postpaid subscribers – 2011 – 2021
Table 8 – Decline in SMS traffic (million messages) – 2013 – 2021
Table 9 – Decline in MMS traffic – 2013 – 2021
Table 10 – Growth in the number of active mobile broadband subscribers – 2011 - 2026
Table 11 – Change in the number of mobile broadband subscribers by data rate – 2013 – 2021
Table 12 – Change in the number of Tigo El Salvador’s mobile subscribers – 2011 – 2021
Table 13 – Development of Tigo El Salvador’s mobile financial data ($ million) – 2014 – 2021
Table 14 – Growth in the number of fixed line broadband subscribers and penetration – 2011 - 2026
Table 15 – Growth in the number of cable broadband subscribers – 2014 – 2021
Table 16 – Growth in the number of fibre and other broadband subscribers – 2013 – 2021
Table 17 – Growth in the number of DSL subscribers – 2011 – 2021
Table 18 – Fixed broadband subscribers by platform – 2011 – 2021
Table 19 – Fixed broadband connections by access speed – 2012 – 2021
Table 20 – Decline in the number of fixed lines in service and teledensity – 2011 - 2026
Table 21 – International bandwidth – 2011 – 2021
Table 22 – Historic – Evolution of GDP in El Salvador – 2000 – 2010
Table 23 – Historic – Mobile subscribers and penetration rate – 1997 – 2010
Table 24 – Historic – Prepaid/postpaid ratio – 2002 – 2010
Table 25 – Historic – Prepaid/postpaid subscribers – 2008 – 2010
Table 26 – Historic – Tigo – mobile subscribers – 1997 – 2010
Table 27 – Historic – Internet users and penetration rate – 1996 – 2017
Table 28 – Historic – Broadband subscribers and penetration rates – 2002 – 2010
Table 29 – Historic – DSL subscribers – 2003 – 2010
Table 30 – Historic – Fixed lines in service and teledensity – 1997 – 2010
Table 31 – Historic – International bandwidth – 2001 – 2010
Table 32 – Historic - Internet users and penetration rate – 2011 – 2017

List of Charts

Chart 1 – Latin America Telecoms Maturity Index – Market Leaders
Chart 2 – Latin America Telecoms Maturity Index – Market Challengers
Chart 3 – Latin America Telecoms Maturity Index – Market Emergents
Chart 4 – Latin America - Telecoms Maturity Index vs GDP per capita
Chart 5 – Latin America – Mobile subscriber penetration vs mobile broadband penetration
Chart 6 – South America mobile subscriber penetration vs mobile broadband penetration
Chart 7 – Central America – mobile subscriber penetration vs mobile broadband penetration
Chart 8 – South America – Fixed and mobile broadband penetration
Chart 9 – Central America – Fixed and mobile broadband penetration
Chart 10 – Growth in the number of mobile subscribers and penetration rate – 2011 - 2026
Chart 11 – Ratio of prepaid/postpaid mobile subscribers – 2011 - 202
Chart 12 – Change in the number of prepaid/postpaid subscribers – 2011 – 2021
Chart 13 – Decline in SMS traffic – 2012 – 2021
Chart 14 – Decline in MMS traffic – 2012 – 2021
Chart 15 – Growth in the number of active mobile broadband subscribers – 2011 - 2026
Chart 16 – Change in the number of mobile broadband subscribers by data rate – 2013 – 2021
Chart 17 – Change in the number of Tigo El Salvador’s mobile subscribers – 2011 – 2021
Chart 18 – Development of Tigo El Salvador’s mobile financial data – 2014 – 2021
Chart 19 – Growth in the number of fixed line broadband subscribers and penetration – 2011 - 2026
Chart 20 – Fixed broadband subscribers by platform – 2011 – 2021
Chart 21 – Fixed broadband connections by access speed – 2012 – 2021
Chart 22 – Decline in the number of fixed lines in service and teledensity – 2010 - 2026

List of Exhibits

Exhibit 1 – Map of Telecom Maturity Index global ranking among countries in Latin America
Exhibit 2 – Generalised Market Characteristics by Market Segment
Exhibit 3 – Latin America – Market Leaders and market developments
Exhibit 4 – Latin America – Market Challengers and market developments
Exhibit 5 – Latin America – Market Emergents and market developments

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El Salvador Telecoms Market Report

Telecoms, Mobile and Broadband - Statistics and Analyses

Purchase this Report

Telefónica Moviles finally sells its El Salvador unit

Key developments:

Companies mentioned in this report:

Key statistics

Regional Latin America Market Comparison

Country overview

Covid-19 and its impact on the telecom sector

Telecommunications market

Regulatory environment

Mobile market

Fixed-line broadband market

Digital economy

Fixed network operators

Telecommunications infrastructure

Appendix – Historic data

Glossary of abbreviations

Related reports

Purchase this Report

Share this Report

TMT Intelligence

A platform to scale your intelligence tasks

Research Methodology

Hot Topics

News & Views