Puerto Rico Communications 2021, CIA World Factbook

total subscriptions: 686,901

subscriptions per 100 inhabitants: 21.19 (2019 est.)

Telephones - mobile cellular

total subscriptions: 3,371,969

subscriptions per 100 inhabitants: 104.03 (2019 est.)

Telecommunication systems

general assessment:

small telecom market affected by mismanagement and natural disasters; hurricanes in 2017 and earthquake in 2020 caused destruction of telecom infrastructure, leading to market decline; US provided funds to rebuild after some delay; lags behind US in fixed and broadband penetration due to high unemployment and lack of operator investment; multi-national telcoms enable LTE and launch of 5G; growing number of submarine cables helps to reduce costs and supports streaming of international content and cloud services; operator launched connectivity for school children during pandemic (2021)

(2020)

domestic: digital telephone system; mobile-cellular services; fixed-line 23 per 100 and mobile-cellular 115 per 100 persons (2019)

international: country code - 1-787, 939; landing points for the GTMO-PR, AMX-1, BRUSA, GCN, PCCS, SAm-1, Southern Caribbean Fiber, Americas-II, Antillas, ARCOS, SMPR-1, and Taino-Carib submarine cables providing connectivity to the mainland US, Caribbean, Central and South America; satellite earth station - 1 Intelsat (2019)

note: the COVID-19 pandemic continues to have a significant impact on production and supply chains globally; since 2020, some aspects of the telecom sector have experienced downturn, particularly in mobile device production; many network operators delayed upgrades to infrastructure; progress towards 5G implementation was postponed or slowed in some countries; consumer spending on telecom services and devices was affected by large-scale job losses and the consequent restriction on disposable incomes; the crucial nature of telecom services as a tool for work and school from home became evident, and received some support from governments

Broadcast media

more than 30 TV stations operating; cable TV subscription services are available; roughly 125 radio stations

Internet country code

.pr

Internet users

total: 2,326,006

percent of population: 70.6% (July 2018 est.)

Broadband - fixed subscriptions

total: 609,943

subscriptions per 100 inhabitants: 18.82 (2019 est.)

NOTE: The information regarding Puerto Rico on this page is re-published from the 2021 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency and other sources. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Puerto Rico 2021 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Puerto Rico 2021 should be addressed to the CIA or the source cited on each page.