Spotlight: The state of play in Panama’s telecom market

Panama’s telecom operators increased their combined investments by 2.81% last year to US$276mn, according to preliminary figures from public services authority Asep.

The regulator is yet to release consolidated 2022 figures for the sector.

The carriers’ revenues amounted to US$1.15bn, up 3.34% from 2021, local press reported, citing the Asep figures.

In a presentation to the national assembly on Tuesday, President Laurentino Cortizo said communications had been one of last year’s economic growth engines together with trade, construction and transportation.

CONSOLIDATION

As a result of M&A in recent years only three companies operate in the market: Cable & Wireless Panama (CWP), Millicom and Digicel.

Spanish giant Telefónica sold its local operations to Millicom in 2019. And in June last year, Liberty Latin America’s CWP - in which the government holds a 49% stake - was cleared to buy América Móvil’s Claro Panama for US$200mn.

Digicel made the decision in April to request the voluntary termination of its concession, arguing that the consolidation of the market had made it impossible to compete.

The move led to an intervention by Asep, which in August was extended for 180 days.

Last month the government approved the termination of Digicel’s concession, while giving Asep time to work on a new concession tender. 

According to a law from 2018, the local market must have at least three companies with concessions to offer mobile phone services.

Local papers have reported that Asep has received expressions of interest in the concession from European, US and Latin American telecom groups.

Panama had an estimated 6.9mn mobile accesses at the end of last year, compared to 6.42mn at end-2021. The mobile networks serve an estimated 96% of the population.