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Belize - Telecoms, Mobile and Broadband
Paul Budde Communication Pty Ltd., April 2009, Pages: 24
Belize is a small country with only 331,000 inhabitants, the only English-speaking nation in Central America. The country has closer affinities with the Caribbean region than with its neighbours.
While Belize’s GDP per capita is high for Central America, its telecoms services have attracted much dissatisfaction. Belize’s fixed-line teledensity is about average for the region, but mobile penetration is considerably lower than in neighbouring countries.
The Belizean telecom market was officially liberalised in January 2003, yet the incumbent, Belize Telemedia Limited (BTL), still holds a virtual monopoly. BTL has been at the centre of a string of ownership litigations; further disputes arose in 2008, after a change of government brought to light questionable agreements between the previous administration and BTL.
SpeedNet launched competing mobile services branded Smart in March 2005, but its owners are allegedly closely linked with BTL’s majority shareholders.
A company called MirrorNet began to compete with BTL in early 2008, offering Internet and VoIP services.
Key highlights
· Having rolled out its own VoIP service called WebTalk International, BTL continues to block any other PC-to-PC VoIP traffic on its network, including MSN, Vonage, Skype, GoogleTalk, Yahoo, Net2phone, and SpeakEasy.
· Besides its direct Internet customers, BTL provides wholesale Internet service to other ISPs.
· BTL’s mobile competitor SpeedNet has managed to increase its mobile market share from about 7% in 2007 to 12% in 2008.
Lucia Bibolini
April 2009
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