GSMA: Central America falls behind in mobile development

Mobile broadband development in Central America is lagging behind the rest of Latin America, putting the region’s future economic development at risk, according to the new report ‘Assessing the impact of market structure on innovation and quality: Driving mobile broadband in Central America’ released by the GSMA.

The 52-page report examines the development of mobile broadband in six countries (Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama) and finds that while 4G networks are available to 35 per cent of the population in Central America, the technology still only accounts for around 5 per cent of all mobile connections in the region, a sixth of that seen in South America.

“Closing the gap in 4G adoption in Central America requires urgent policy reform,” said Sebastián Cabello, Head of Latin America, GSMA. “This report underscores the need for governments and regulators to act quickly in reforming policies that will encourage investment and innovation and enable operators to deliver high-quality mobile broadband services to consumers and businesses across the region.”

The GSMA report can be downloaded here

Assessing the impact of market structure on innovation and quality (Full report – English)

Assessing the impact of market structure on innovation and quality (Full report – Spanish)

Assessing the impact of market structure on innovation and quality (Report Annexes – Spanish)

Assessing the impact of market structure on innovation and quality (Executive Summary – Spanish)