Communications Markets in Paraguay

Paraguay has an underdeveloped fixed market that recently saw the Internet segment opened to competition, which explains why we expect fixed VoIP and broadband Internet to be — along with mobile data — the fastest-growing segments, with 46.7%, 14.2% and 13.0% CAGRs, respectively. Interestingly, Copaco generates more than twice as much revenue from the provision of dial-up services than from its own DSL platform, but broadband will grow to match decreasing dial-up revenue by 2014.

We expect Paraguay's telecom market to follow a regional pattern for 2009 and experience negative growth due to the global economic recession. Our estimates point to a 1.5% drop in total revenue, from $782m in 2008 to $771m in 2009. We also expect this downturn to dampen growth prospects, with an extended impact in the telecommunications market throughout the forecast period.