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Telephones - main lines in use: 7,678,800 (July 2005) Telephones - mobile cellular: 21.85 million (July 2005) Telephone system: ''general assesment:'' modern system in many respects ''domestic:'' nationwide microwave radio relay system; domestic satellite system with 41 earth stations; fiber-optic network linking 50 cities ''international:'' country code - 57; satellite earth stations - 6 Intelsat, 1 Inmarsat; 3 fully digitalized international switching centers; 8 submarine cables Radio broadcast stations: AM 454, FM 34, shortwave 27 (1999) Television broadcast stations: 60 (includes seven low-power stations) (1997) Internet Service Providers (ISPs): 13 (1999) Internet country code: .co Internet hosts: 581,877 (2006) Internet users: 4.739 million (2005) BROADBAND INTERNET ACCESS Broadband Internet access has been available in Colombia since 1997. The service was originally charged in American dollars, remaining expensive. The pioneers in broadband access in Colombia were University Of The Andes and Cable operator TV Cable S.A both based in Bogotá , Colombia. From 1997 to 2001, only the cities of Bogotá and Bucaramanga had broadband Cable Internet access, although during that time, the service remained expensive and was only available in the richest neighbourhoods. In the year 2001, ADSL Internet access appeared in Colombia. The appearance of ADSL Internet access meant a commercial war between the telecom companies and the cable operators (mainly in Bogotá and Bucaramanga). For some strange reason, Bogota, the largest city by size in Colombia, and Bucaramanga, the fifth city by size, have been the only cities where Cable and ADSL operators are available throughout the whole city at the same time. Nowadays the fiercest battles to attract broadband users are in Bogotá and Bucaramanga. Medellin, Cali, and Barranquilla, the second, third and fourth cities by population in Colombia have only one ADSL operator that reaches the city as a whole. This means the ADSL operator and the cable operators are not competing directly in those cities so that tariffs are higher than in Bogotá or Bucaramanga. With respect to all the cities below one million inhabitants, ADSL broadband access is available through Colombia-Telecom (50% owned by Colombian Government and 50% owned by Telefónica from Spain). Because in these cities and towns the only broadband provider is Colombia-Telecom the service remains expensive. Note: As of late (2007) Telefonica Colombia has expanded DSL operations to all Capital and Major cities and all cities with a main office and a main satellite. In Colombia there are three national ADSL and WiMax Broadband Providers. That has monopoly positions in their respective cities, with the notable exception of Bogotá. With respect to Broadband Cable Providers, each one of them is available only in their native city, and constitutes a monopoly in its respective city. National players #Telecom/Telefonica
#Empresa de Telefonos de Bogota "ETB" (90% owned by the city of Bogotá, and 10% owned by private investors).
#Empresas Publicas de Medellin "EPM" (100% owned by the city of Medellin)
#Coldecon
Regional players #TV Cable SA
#CableCentro
#Cable Union de Occidente
#TV Cable Promision SA (completely unrelated with TV Cable SA)
#Dinanet
ADDRESSES Colombia uses a unique system of addressing in order to combat the need for Postal Codes . In every city (with the notable exception of Cartagena De Indias ), streets are numbered. North-south streets are called ''calle'', while east-west streets are called ''carrerra''. South-west to north-east streets are called ''diagonal'', while south-east to north-west streets are called ''transversal''. It is fair to say that ''calles'' and ''carrerras'' do not always line up in a grid pattern. House numbers are another matter. Rather than simply numbering the houses from 1 onwards, they are numbered by the first "crossing" street, and then the number of meters away from that street the front door is. This goes on until there is another "crossing" street, at which point the houses on the next block go up in number. As an example, a typical house number in Bogotá could be: Calle 52 N° 42-18, Bogotá. This would indicate that the particular house in question is on Calle 52, 18 meters in from Carrerra 42. To further the example, if the block closest to Carrerra 42 was only 100 meters long, the closest house to the next "crossing" street, Carrerra 43, could be numbered N° 43-5. Since accuracy is the focus of the design of the addresses, numbers do not alternate on opposite sides of the street. Instead, numbers go meter-for-meter, and where one door is across from the other, a measurement can be taken, or, the neighbours can come to an agreement where one house is one "meter" behind the other. A further course of action would simply to add, "A" to the number, such as "N° 43-5A". EXTERNAL LINKS |
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