Spotlight: The state of Bolivia’s telecom market

Although Latin America’s largest telcos – América Móvil and Telefónica – don’t have operations in Bolivia, the country provides a market for three major operators, one of which is state-owned.

The market is dominated by Entel, which was nationalized in 2008 by the Evo Morales administration, followed by Millicom's Tigo and Viva.

With a population of around 12mn, Bolivia registered 11.8mn mobile lines at end-2020, compared to 11.6mn at end-2019, two times the figure from end-2008, according to latest statistics from regulator ATT. 

The regulator also registered 10.9mn internet connections, up 4.5% year-over-year. 

The departments of La Paz, Santa Cruz and Cochabamba accounted for 75% of total mobile lines and 76% of internet accesses.

INTERNET

Internet speeds and latency are among the poorest in South America, partially because the country has limited access to interconnection networks and international routes and because of its challenging topography.

Bolivia ranked 109th in the world for mobile speeds and 114th for fixed broadband speeds in April, with 20.6Mbps and 25.9Mbps average download speed, respectively, according to the Ookla speed test index. Both indexes improved over March.

Meanwhile, a broadband speed measurement by Netflixin April showed Tigo offered the fastest cable and fiber speeds, with 3.2Mbps.

Source: Ookla

During the recent global telecommunications day, ATT launched a tool called sectorial information system (SIS), allowing the public to access internet quality measurements, as well as data on telecommunications and the general state of the internet in the country.

Source: ATT

FIXED LINES AND PAY-TV

While mobile lines continue growing, albeit at a slower pace, the number of fixed lines keeps declining, in line with global and regional trends.

At the end of December, there were 598,082 fixed lines in service in the country, down 9%, according to ATT.

Pay-TV accesses hit 622,320, a decline of 4.7% over 2019, the first annual drop since the service started being tracked in 2008. In other markets, pay-TV accesses were already in decline due to, among others, the growth of streaming platforms. 

The decline in Bolivia is also likely to be associated with the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Again, the departments of La Paz, Cochabamba and Santa Cruz are leading the way.

FIBER

Bolivia's national fiber backbone was 26,587km at end-June 2020, the latest available data, growing over 2,000km from 2019. 

The growth was mostly related to stretches added in the north, south and center-west. 

Recently, Bolivia gained better access to international routes with a Pacific exit through Peru, activated by state-run telco Entel, although corruption claims related to the project have emerged.

ALSO READ: Shell company, corruption claims: What’s going on at Bolivia’s Entel? 

ANTENNAS AND REVENUES

ATT previously reported that nearly half the country's 15,642 base stations were compatible with 4G by June last year, up 693, but more recent updates are not available.

There were also 4,923 2G base stations and 2,825 with 3G technology and both continued to expand.

Sector revenues (internet, fixed telephony, mobile telephony and pay-TV) amounted to 5.57bn bolivianos (US$1.78bn) at the end of June 2020. Full-year figures were not available.

According to ATT, however, on an annualized pattern, assuming the same pace for the second half, annual revenues would be 90% of the 12.3bn bolivianos registered in 2019.