The island offers a variety of cable service providers including Centennial of Puerto Rico, Direct TV, Dish Network, Liberty Cablevision, and Pegasus Cable TV.
   Advances in the number of subscribers to broadband cable services can be seen in the chart below⁵⁴:

   The island enjoys a vibrant wireless marketplace that allows subscribers options for a wireless service provider.  Growth in the market between 1998 and 1999 was 58%, which represents 16% points over the average growth rate of the wireless market in the United States.  In 1999 the island had 800,000 subscribers, which was roughly 20% of the population.¹⁰  Penetration of the cellular phone market is 16%, which is the highest in Latin America.
     The cellular services market has also experienced increased competition due to the FCA.  In 1999 Cellular One had 51% of the market, followed by Celular Telefonica with 30% and Centennial with 19%.  New entrants in 2000 included Movistar and Telecorp.¹²

   Electricity was privatized in the first half of the 20^th century.  The inability of the private sector to provide an infrastructure for low-cost electricity to service low-income households or isolated areas led the government to purchase the multiple electrical utilities and consolidate them into one.  Originally named Fuentes Fluviales (named this way because it was originally a hydroelectric power company), it was later renamed the Autoridad de Energia Electrica (AEE), or Electrical Energy Authority.  The AEE continues to have a monopoly in this market, with a capacity of over 4000 megawatts and plans of expanded operations through the use of gas and coal power generators.¹¹

   The Telecommunications Act of 1996 led the local telecommunications market to grow in Puerto Rico by opening up the telecommunications market.  Its main goal was to stimulate competition in the telecommunications sector.  The local operator, Puerto Rico Telephone Company (PRTC), was a state owned property and sole telecommunications provider until 1998.¹²  The first failed attempt at privatizing the PRTC came under the government of Governor Colon in the 90's.  The reaction of the public to the privatization was in the 90's just as tremendous as it was later, when the PRTC was privatized in 1999.¹ would be in   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  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

   The island has 72 AM stations and 17 FM stations.

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