Puerto Rico is one of the most advanced and fastest growing telecommunications markets in the Caribbean region. The Puerto Rico Telephone Co. was founded in 1914 by two German sugar brokers, Sosthenes and Hernand Behn, best known today as the creators of International Telephone and Telegraph (ITT). In 1974 the Puerto Rican government bought the phone company from ITT. In 2002, there were an estimated 1.329 million telephone lines on the island. In 2002, there were an estimated 1.211 million cellular phone subscribers, which represented 47.7% of the total number of telephone subscribers.
On 12 September 1996, Law 213 (known as Puerto Rico's Telecommunications Act of 1996) was enacted. The Act created the Puerto Rico Telecommunications Regulatory Board with jurisdiction over all telecommunications companies providing services on the island. As of 2003, as a result of the 1996 law, 233 telecommunications companies had begun operations on the island. The Puerto Rico Telephone Co. has a 93% market share of the local telecommunications market, and Centennial of Puerto Rico holds the remaining 7%. However, the Puerto Rico Telecommunications Regulatory Board, as of 2003, was attempting to further competition within the telecommunications industry.
WKAQ, the island's first radio station, came on the air in 1923, and the first television station, WKAQ-TV, began broadcasting in 1954. As of 2003, there were 73 AM and 50 FM radio stations. In 2003, there were 4 commercial television channels/networks with 6 affiliates, 1 public broadcast television channel/network, 3 cable television service companies (with 360,579 subscribers), and 4 satellite television providers.
There were 76 internet service providers in 2000, and approximately 600,000 internet users in 2002.