Telecommunication systems: general assessment:
telecom industry struggling due to political upheaval in the country; poor quality of service in many areas of the country due to decrepit state of fixed-line network and operators’ inability to pay for equipment from foreign vendors; operator suffering from stolen or damaged infrastructure; many consumers favor mobile service, and cancel their fixed-line services; popularity of social networks caused growth in mobile data traffic; LTE coverage to about half of the population; government launched National Fiber Optic backbone project in 2019; national satellite drifted off course and became non-operational; American company closed a telecom service due to government sanction and a Chilean company later acquired the service; Internet freedom deteriorating amid crisis, with frequent disruptions to service and monitoring; importer of broadcasting equipment from the USA (2021)
(2020)domestic: two domestic satellite systems with three earth stations; recent substantial improvement in telephone service in rural areas; 3 major providers operate in the mobile market and compete with state-owned company; fixed-line 19 per 100 and mobile-cellular telephone subscribership about 58 per 100 persons (2019)
international: country code - 58; landing points for the Venezuela Festoon, ARCOS, PAN-AM, SAC, GlobeNet, ALBA-1 and Americas II submarine cable system providing connectivity to the Caribbean, Central and South America, and US; satellite earth stations - 1 Intelsat (Atlantic Ocean) and 1 PanAmSat (2020)
note: the COVID-19 pandemic continues to have a significant impact on production and supply chains globally; since 2020, some aspects of the telecom sector have experienced downturn, particularly in mobile device production; many network operators delayed upgrades to infrastructure; progress towards 5G implementation was postponed or slowed in some countries; consumer spending on telecom services and devices was affected by large-scale job losses and the consequent restriction on disposable incomes; the crucial nature of telecom services as a tool for work and school from home became evident, and received some support from governments
Definition: This entry includes a brief general assessment of a country's telecommunications system with details on the domestic and international components. The following terms and abbreviations are used throughout the entry:
Source: CIA World Factbook - This page was last updated on Saturday, September 18, 2021
