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Millicom and Claro lead in Central America
The Central American Pay TV market, according to Dataxis, is estimated at 3,869,000 subscribers, and it will remain stable in the coming years. The OTT market is today at 2,453,000, with an annual growth of 10%, expecting to double the size by 2025.Pay TV market share
Millicom and Claro bet on mobile fixed convergence, in Central America Millicom reached 39.4% of the share and América Móvil 28.5% of the total. Together they accounted for 70% of the pay TV market from Guatemala and Panama. Behind them, Liberty Latam grew with 8.4%, Sky with 3.9%; Cablecolor today has 3.8%, the ICE of Costa Rica 2.9%, IBW 0.8%, Luminet 0.2% and the rest of the market add a 12.1%.
Millicom will continue to invest in continuous improvements to the mobile network in Colombia, El Salvador, Panama and Nicaragua. But especially in Panama, they confirmed the creation of a Fintech Hub for the entire region, with a development plan and the injection of approximately $ 250 million mainly focused on incorporating next-generation technologies.
América Móvil continued to grow in the rest of the region. Now it will take an important step with the broadcast of the Tokyo Olympic Games by Claro Sports and Claro Video. The third force is Liberty Media, owning in Panama Cable & Wireless, 80% of Cable Tica and with the operation of Telefónica. He also added other positions in the Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Honduras, Colombia and El Salvador.
Cablecolor, ICE Costa Rica, Telecable and new leading ISPs
The main independent operator is Cablecolor, which is already expanding into the region. Then there are the ICE of Costa Rica that reaches 3% of the region, and behind them Telecable. In addition, there are Digicel, (telco based in Panama), and new forces such as ISP TransOcean, with 500 kilometers of fiber optics and the launch of its own OTT application. Other ISPs showing growth are: Venite from Guatemala and Yota from Honduras, which offers a WiMax service.