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Communications in Colombia
Telephones - main lines in use:
7,678,800 (July 2005)
Telephones - mobile cellular:
31,000,000 (2007)
Telephone system:
general assesment:
modern system in many respects
domestic:
nationwide microwave radio relay system; domestic satellite system with 41 earth stations; fiber-optic network linking 50 cities
international:
country code - 57; satellite earth stations - 6 Intelsat, 1 Inmarsat; 3 fully digitalized international switching centers; 8 submarine cables
Radio broadcast stations:
AM 454, FM 34, shortwave 27 (1999)
Television broadcast stations:
60 (includes seven low-power stations) (1997)
Internet Service Providers (ISPs):
13 (1999)
Internet country code:
.co
Internet hosts:
581,877 (2006)
Internet users:
4.739 million (2005)
Broadband Internet access
Broadband Internet access has been available in Colombia since 1997. The service was originally charged in American dollars, remaining expensive. The pioneers in broadband access in Colombia were University of the Andes and Cable operator TV Cable S.A both based in Bogota, Colombia.
From 1997 to 2001, only the cities of Bogota and Bucaramanga had broadband Cable Internet access, although during that time, the service remained expensive and was only available in the richest neighbourhoods.
In the year 2001, ADSL Internet access appeared in Colombia. The appearance of ADSL Internet access meant a commercial war between the telecom companies and the cable operators (mainly in Bogota and Bucaramanga). For some strange reason, Bogota, the largest city by size in Colombia, and Bucaramanga, the fifth city by size, have been the only cities where Cable and ADSL operators are available throughout the whole city at the same time. Nowadays the fiercest battles to attract broadband users are in Bogota and Bucaramanga.
Medellin, Cali, and Barranquilla, the second, third and fourth cities by population in Colombia have only one ADSL operator that reaches the city as a whole. This means the ADSL operator and the cable operators are not competing directly in those cities so that tariffs are higher than in Bogota or Bucaramanga.
With respect to all the cities below one million inhabitants, ADSL broadband access is available through Colombia-Telecom (50% owned by Colombian Government and 50% owned by Telefonica from Spain). Because in these cities and towns the only broadband provider is Colombia-Telecom the service remains expensive.
Note: As of late (2007) Telefonica Colombia has expanded DSL operations to all Capital and Major cities and all cities with a main office and a main satellite.
In Colombia there are three national ADSL and WiMax Broadband Providers. That has monopoly positions in their respective cities, with the notable exception of Bogota.
With respect to Broadband Cable Providers, each one of them is available only in their native city, and constitutes a monopoly in its respective city.
National players
Telecom/Telefonica
*Monopoly ADSL Position in all the cities and towns between 1 000 000 million inhabitants and 100 000 inhabitants
*its also has a minor share of ADSL Access in Bogota, Medellin, Cali, Barranquilla
*It has monopolistic ADSL and WIMAX Access in Bucaramanga.
Empresa de Telecomunicaciones de Bogota "ETB" .
*Near monopolistic ADSL provider in Bogota
*Near Monopolistic WIMAX provider Armenia, Medellin, Barranquilla, Palmira, Cartagena, Villavicencio, Neiva, Pereira, Ibague, Manizales, Monteria, Bucaramanga, Tunja, Santa Marta, Valledupar, Popayan , Cucuta, Cartago.
*Small WIMAX share in Cali
Empresas Publicas de Medellin "EPM" (100% owned by the city of Medellin)
*Near monopolic ADSL and WIMAX provider in Medellin
*Small ADSL Share in Bogota
*Near monopoly WIMAX share in Cali
Coldecon
*Small ADSL Share in Colombia
*Near monopoly wifi share in Cali
*Near monopoly wifi share in Barranquilla
Regional players
TV Cable SA
*It has a mayor share on the cable broadband access in Bogota. This company focuses on the richest neighbourhoods of Bogota, and has found its market niche in the wealthy parts of Bogota, mainly the northern part. Although it is a local player, it is the most technologically advanced broadband provider in Colombia. It is the first and only company providing Triple play in Colombia.
CableCentro
*It has a minor share of CABLE broadband access in most of the cities above 100 000 in Colombia
Cable Union de Occidente
*It has nearly monopolistic share of CABLE Broadband Access in Cali
TV Cable Promision SA (completely unrelated with TV Cable SA)
*It has nearly monopolistic share of CABLE Broadband Access in Bucaramanga
Dinanet
*It has monopolistic share of CABLE Broadband Access in Barranquilla
Addresses
Colombia uses a unique system of addressing in order to combat the need for postal codes. In every city (with the notable exception of Cartagena de Indias), streets are numbered. North-south streets are called calle, while east-west streets are called carrerra. South-west to north-east streets are called diagonal, while south-east to north-west streets are called transversal. It is fair to say that calles and carrerras do not always line up in a grid pattern.
House numbers are another matter. Rather than simply numbering the houses from 1 onwards, they are numbered by the first "crossing" street, and then the number of meters away from that street the front door is. This goes on until there is another "crossing" street, at which point the houses on the next block go up in number.
As an example, a typical house number in Bogota could be: Calle 52 N 42-18, Bogota. This would indicate that the particular house in question is on Calle 52, approximately 18 meters in from Carrerra 42. To further the example, if the block closest to Carrerra 42 was only 100 meters long, the closest house to the next "crossing" street, Carrerra 43, could be numbered N 43-05. Sometimes letters are added to the street numbers to differentiate actual streets from alleys or dead ends.
Accuracy isn't the focus of the design of the addresses, therefore, numbers simply alternate on opposite sides of the street.
External links
Colombian Ministry of Communications
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This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article Communications in Colombia
