Puerto Rico’s telecom market has been deeply affected in recent years by a combination of economic mismanagement and natural disasters, including two hurricanes which landed in late 2017 and an earthquake which struck in January 2020. The general destruction following the hurricanes led to a marked decline in the number of subscribers for all services, while straightened economic circumstances forced many people not to resume telecom services after these were restored. After some delay, the FCC in late 2019 issued an order relating to the release of funds to help rebuild telecom infrastructure.
Although Puerto Rico is a US territory it lags well behind the mainland US states in terms of fixed-line and broadband penetration. This is partly due to high unemployment rates (and consequently low disposable income) and poor telecoms investment in a market largely dominated by the incumbent Puerto Rico Telephone Company. The activities of the US-based telcos, including T-Mobile US, Sprint and AT&T continue to impact on the Puerto Rican market. This has recently been seen in these operators securing spectrum in the 600MHz, expanding the reach of LTE services and launching services based on 5G.
The Puerto Rico Telephone Company’s fixed-line market dominance was augmented following its acquisition by the largest wireless company in Latin America, América Móvil. In contrast, the mobile (cellular/wireless) market, with six network operators, has been experiencing more robust competition and growth. Although América Móvil’s Claro briefly took the lead from AT&T Mobility in terms of subscriber numbers, AT&T regained the top position following its acquisition of Centennial Communications. In early 2017 Sprint and Open Wireless agreed to merge their networks in a bid to offer better market competition by increasing their scale and combining spectrum holdings.
The acquisition by Liberty Global of the remaining cable TV operator Choice Cable, completed in mid-2015, created a monopoly player in this sector. Liberty Cablevisión, now wholly-owned by Liberty Global’s LLA division, is in a stronger position to capitalise on scale, and so provide improved services based on greater investment and on the use of technology based on the DOCSIS3.1 standard. Liberty Cablevisión has also become better placed in the bundled service market following LLA’s acquisition of AT&T’s wireless and wireline units in Puerto Rico. The deal is expected to complete by mid-2020.
Key developments:
FCC issues order to release additional funds to rebuild Puerto Rico’s telecom infrastructure;
T-Mobile US completes 600MHz LTE network rollout, launches 5G services to majority of the population;
AT&T sells its mobile and fixed business units in Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands to Liberty Latin America for $1.95 billion;
Government-funded Gigabit Island project aiming to provide access speeds of 1Gb/s to 70% of premises by end-2020;
Report update includes the regulator’s market data to November 2019, telcos’ operating and financial data to Q3 2019, Telecom Maturity Index charts and analyses, recent market developments.
Companies mentioned in this report:
Puerto Rico Telephone Company, América Móvil, AT&T, Liberty Cablevision; OneLink Communications; T-Mobile; Open Mobile; Sprint PCS; Choice Cable.
Table of Contents
Key statistics
Regional Caribbean Market Comparison
Caribbean Teleco Maturity Index
TMI versus GDP
Mobile and mobile broadband penetration
Fixed and mobile broadband penetration
Country overview
Telecommunications market
Overview
Regulatory environment
Fixed-line developments
Telecom sector liberalisation
Privatisation of PRTC
Mobile network developments
Spectrum
Mobile market
Market analysis
Mobile statistics
Mobile broadband
Major mobile operators
AT&T Mobility
Claro Puerto Rico
T-Mobile US
Sprint PCS
Open Mobile/Boost Mobile
Mobile infrastructure
5G
4G (LTE)
Fixed-line broadband market
Market analysis
Broadband statistics
Hybrid Fibre Coax (HFC) networks
Liberty Cablevisión
Acquisitions
Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) networks
Fibre-to-the-Premises (FttP) networks
Other fixed broadband services
Wireless broadband
Fixed network operators
Introduction
Puerto Rico Telephone Company (PRTC)
AT&T
Telecommunications infrastructure
National telecom networks
International infrastructure
Submarine cable networks
Satellite networks
Appendix – Historic data
Related reports
List of Tables
Table 1 – Top Level Country Statistics and Telco Authorities – Puerto Rico – 2019 (e)
Table 2 – Development of telecom and cable TV revenue – 2009 – 2018
Table 3 – Change in the number of mobile subscribers and penetration – 2009 – 2024
Table 4 – Change in the number of postpaid and prepaid subscribers – 2009 – 2019
Table 5 – Change in the proportion of postpaid vs prepaid subscribers – 2009 – 2019
Table 6 – Growth in the number of active mobile broadband subscribers – 2011 – 2024
Table 7 – Change in the number of Lifeline phone service connections – 2003 – 2018
Table 8 – Change in the number of internet subscribers and penetration – 2010 – 2019
Table 9 – Growth in the number of fixed-line broadband subscribers and penetration - 2009 – 2024
Table 10 – Change in the number of fixed broadband connections by data rate - 2017 – 2019
Table 11 – Proportion of fixed broadband connections by data rate - 2017 – 2019
Table 12 – Growth in the number of cable broadband subscribers - 2009 – 2020
Table 13 – Growth in the number of Liberty Cablevisión’s broadband and telephony subscribers – 2010 – 2019
Table 14 – Development of Liberty Cablevisión’s financial results – 2013 – 2019
Table 15 – Change in the number of DSL broadband subscribers - 2009 – 2020
Table 16 – Change in the number of public payphones in service – 2009 – 2019
Table 17 – Change in the number of fixed lines in service and teledensity – 2009 – 2024
Table 18 – Historic - Mobile subscribers and penetration – 2001 – 2009
