Colombia’s telecoms watchdog the Communication Regulation Commission (CRC) has approved new measures that will improve competition in the wireless market. The provisions focus on regulating more closely the relationships between telcos. No mobile network operator will be allowed to block a device, meaning that customers can connect through any network. In addition the CRC will decrease interconnection rates for calls between operators from the current rate of COP98 (USD0.05) per minute to COP42 per minute by 2015, and investigate the possibility of reducing SMS interconnection rates from COP59 to a single figure by the same date.
Going forward, by April 2012 the watchdog plans to have completed work on a website that will allow customers to view and compare the rates offered by different providers.
Colombia’s wireless market consists of three players, according to TeleGeography’s GlobalComms Database. Comunicacion Celular is the dominant provider with 67.8% share of the mobile market, whilst Spain’s Telefonica Moviles Colombia (Movistar) and Luxembourg’s Colombia Movil (Tigo) represent 22.0% and 10.2% of the sector respectively.