Company profiles
In Guatemala there are three main Internet providers: Claro, Tigo and Movistar (owned by Telefonica), the latter is owner of Tuenti, another telephony brand aimed specifically at millennials.
Claro is owned by the Mexican Carlos Slim, the company was born after the privatisation of the national telecommunications company in 1998. Tigo is owned by Mario López, a Guatemalan businessman cataloged by Forbes magazine as the richest man in Central America. The company has grown exponentially in the last decade and currently focuses its efforts on owning the largest number of providers of cable television service. Movistar is co-owned by Telefonica in Spain and the Gutiérrez family, owners of the largest restaurants and food products corporation in Guatemala. In 2017 Movistar inaugurated Tuenti in Guatemala and aimed to a young market to which they wanted to reach with low prices, nevertheless, the problems with the headquarters made Telefonica opt to sell their assets in Central America. In January 2019 Telefonica de Guatemala and El Salvador were sold to America Movil (owner of Claro) for US$645m. On the other hand Millicom (Tigo) purchased the rights to Telefónica Panamá, Costa Rica and Nicaragua.