VENEZUELA

摘要

Venezuela s fixed-line teledensity is only about average for Latin America a poor performance based on the country s GDP per capita, which is one of the region s highest. In 2007, however, Venezuela s fixed-lines in service grew at a faster rate than those of most other Latin American countries, as its renationalized incumbent CANTV rolled out lines in underserviced areas while cutting interconnection charges and call fees. The Venezuelan government gained control of CANTV in May 2007 with an 86.2 percent stake, which comprised 6.6 percent that it already owned; 28.5 percent that it purchased from Verizon; and 51.1 percent that it purchased through concurrent share offers on the New York and Caracas stock exchanges. Besides CANTV, another four telcos offer basic telephony using fixed-wireless or cable TV networks, and another nine offer international long-distance telephony. VoIP, as a cheap option for long-distance calling, has gained a strong foothold in Venezuela.