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El Salvador Telecommunications Profile

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Telephones - main lines in usetotal subscriptions: 882,498

subscriptions per 100 inhabitants: 13.73 (2019 est.)
Telephones - mobile cellulartotal subscriptions: 9,442,667

subscriptions per 100 inhabitants: 146.91 (2019 est.)
Telecommunication systemsgeneral assessment:

El Salvador’s telecom sector is challenged by low population, poor infrastructure, and unequal income distribution compounded by corruption and criminal influence; liberal regulation promotes mobile penetration in replacement of fixed-line density; operators testing 5G in 2020 (2020)

(2020)

domestic: growth in fixed-line services 14 per 100, has slowed in the face of mobile-cellular competition at 147 per 100 (2019)

international: country code - 503; satellite earth station - 1 Intelsat (Atlantic Ocean); connected to Central American Microwave System (2019)

note: the COVID-19 pandemic continues to have a significant impact on production and supply chains globally; since 2020, some aspects of the telecom sector have experienced downturn, particularly in mobile device production; many network operators delayed upgrades to infrastructure; progress towards 5G implementation was postponed or slowed in some countries; consumer spending on telecom services and devices was affected by large-scale job losses and the consequent restriction on disposable incomes; the crucial nature of telecom services as a tool for work and school from home became evident, and received some support from governments

Broadcast mediamultiple privately owned national terrestrial TV networks, supplemented by cable TV networks that carry international channels; hundreds of commercial radio broadcast stations and 1 government-owned radio broadcast station; transition to digital transmission to begin in 2018 along with adaptation of the Japanese-Brazilian Digital Standard (ISDB-T)
Internet country code.sv
Internet userstotal: 2,153,776

percent of population: 33.82% (July 2018 est.)
Broadband - fixed subscriptionstotal: 492,265

subscriptions per 100 inhabitants: 8 (2018 est.)

Source: CIA World Factbook
This page was last updated on September 18, 2021

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