Uruguay's teledensity, or main lines per 100 people, was 28 in 1999, up 44 percent from 19.5 in 1995. In 1997, Uruguay was the first country in Latin America, the sixth in the world, to become fully digital. Every town with a population of over 10,000 is connected to the national fiber optic backbone network. Uruguay relies heavily on foreign imports for the buildout of its networks. More than 90 percent of telecommunications and information technology equipment is imported.
Limited competition exists for wireless and value-added services.
This effort was defeated in a public referendum. Renewed efforts to open the telecom sector to greater participation from private firms are presently under consideration. Provision of business telecommunications services, including broadband Internet connections, is fully open to competition. Uruguay is not a signatory to the WTO's Basic Telecom Services or Information Technology agreements. Although Perez Tabo mentioned that there would be three operators in each region, he did not offer details since they were still in the process of drawing up the rules.