The telecom regulatory framework in Colombia has become a major catalyst for the promotion of competition, and is predicted to drive market recovery starting in 2010, according to a new report from Pyramid Research.

Colombia: Operators Hope Regulatory Changes Help Spur a Market Recovery offers a precise, incisive profile of the country's converged telecommunications, media, and technology sectors based on proprietary data from our research in the Colombian market. It provides detailed competitive analysis of both the fixed and mobile sectors, tracks the market shares of technologies and services, and monitors the introduction and spread of new technologies, such as WiMax, IPTV, and VoIP. Published annually, this executive study provides a comprehensive view of the Colombian communications market by analyzing key trends, evaluating near-term opportunities, and assessing upcoming risks factors.

After a challenging 2009, Colombia is now the fifth largest communications market in Latin America based on revenue size. Given the convergence of relevant regional players and aggressive local groups in this country, Colombia stands as one of the most competitive communications markets in Latin America, notes César Jiménez, Senior Analyst at Pyramid Research and author of the report. "Now, Colombia's telecom regulatory framework is experiencing a major transformation toward the promotion of effective competition; of the more than 20 current regulatory projects, 10 deal directly with competition," he adds.

"In 2010, we expect the regulatory environment to be dominated by significant events, such as the implementation of number portability (expected in March 2010), spectrum auctions in the 2.5GHz band, the defining of relevant markets and the implementation of specific antitrust regulation," says Jiménez.

"Overall, Pyramid Research expects the most attractive opportunities to be related to mobile services (voice and data), as well as broadband," Jiménez explains. "Upcoming spectrum auctions will offer opportunities for deploying broadband wireless networks in Colombia, and vendors should prepare to benefit from the entry of number portability, as it will require network upgrades, new solutions, and new software."
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