Liberalization and Deregulation
Liberalization and Deregulation
Privatization of Telecommunications
In 1996 the government of El Salvador passed legislation, which began the liberalization of the state owned telecom Antel. In July 1998 Antel was divided into Compania de Telecomunicaciones de El Salvador (Telecommunications Company of El Salvador) CTE, which is primarily a wire line company and Internacional de Telecomunicaciones (International Communications) INTEL, which is primarily wireless company. CTE was sold to France Telecom and is controlled 51% by France Telecom, 25% by the El Salvadoran government, and 24% by workers and shareholders. INTEL was sold to Telefonica España.
In 1996 when legislation began to
privatize telecommunications, the El Salvadoran government created a new
regulatory agency called Superintendencia General de Electricidad y Telecomunicaciones
(The Superintendency for Electricity and Telecommunications) SIGET.
This new agency is El Salvador’s equivalent to the U.S. Federal Communications
Commission, FCC. SIGET requires all local service providers to give
access to their networks for other services, including data, long distance,
cellular, and other wireless devices.
Source: SIGET website