Another important indicator of the infrastructure of a country is the number of individuals who have access to mobile/cellular communication technology.  Puerto Rico has one of the highest penetration rates for cellular technology in Latin America.  Between the years of 1995 and 2000, Puerto Rico experienced a high amount of growth in this market.  In 1995, only 287,000 users existed.  By the year 2000, the market had grown to a total of 926,400 users from a population of 3.91 million.⁷² This is roughly equivalent to 23.7% of the population.  Growth in the cellular services subscriber market for Puerto Rico is depicted in the graph below.³⁴

   As compared to the rest of the Latin American countries analyzed, Puerto Rico ranked second (behind Antigua and Barbuda and before the country of Chile).  As a consequence of the Federal Telecommunications Act, it is expected that this trend will continue as increased competition in the cellular phone market in Puerto Rico causes price competition and increased services to be made available.

   Until recently, Puerto Rico had only one major telecommunications player, the PRTC (Puerto Rico Telephone Company).  Approval of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 has led the local telecommunications market to grow.  The Federal Communications Act (FCA) opened up the telecommunications market with the goal of stimulating competition and fostering growth.  The local operator, PRTC, was a state owned property and sole telecommunications provider until 1998.¹² The government of Puerto Rico purchased it from International Telephone and Telegraph for $165 million in 1974 due to unmet telecommunications needs.  Under the government-run PRTC, market penetration increased 49% points, from 25% in 1974 to 74% in 1996.¹³  Following the approval of the FCA, the government decided on selling the PRTC after coming to the realization that the PRTC could not compete well under the new liberalized telecommunications market.  The operational efficiency of the PRTC lagged behind national averages (2.45 employees/1,000 lines versus the estimates for PRTC of 5.85 employees/1,000 lines).  The sale of 51% of PRTC to GTE in March of 1999 would provide the government with over $2 billion in revenues.¹⁷  To learn about the investment plans in the telecommunications of Puerto Rico, click here to view the article "Future Economic Development Based on Telecommunications Technology".
   As a result of the opening of the market, not only has the island experienced privatization but also increased competition from the 25 telecommunications companies that have been authorized to operate on the island that include well-known providers Primus, MCI Worldcom and Cellular One.¹²  Most of those companies granted licenses to operate within the Puerto Rican market received the licenses between the years of 1987-98.⁶
   The number of mobile users in Puerto Rico is expected to continue showing high         penetration rates.  In fact, in the future Puerto Rico is poised to have cellular phone subscribers outnumber the number of regular phone subscribers.  The players in the market in 2000 and their respective market shares follow³²:

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