By quantifying unserved demand, telecommunications investors can identify the countries with greatest profit potential. They can also identify those which, at present income levels, have saturated telecommunications markets. These offer the least profit potential. However, there are also considerable variations from the average. These variations are of key importance.
Brazil offers the most potential.
Actual teledensity is 4.6 less than Brazil's income levels normally would support. With a population of 162,000,000 this indicates immediate unserved demand of 7,450,000 lines. Such unserved demand explains the high values for which Brazilian telecommunications licensees have been sold. Suriname offers the least potential. Suriname's far higher than expected teledensity should raise a warning flag for potential investors.