Summary

  • In March 1996, Hondutel reported five ISPs and four organisations directly connected, with 25 more connections in process; it priced 64 kbps direct access at $600 a month and dial-up at $30.
  • NetSys said in February 1997 that it bought direct links from Hondutel and could not sell dedicated service itself, even as it offered unlimited dial-up.

A market can admit more internet service providers without giving them control over every part of the service they sell. Honduras’s state telecommunications company, Hondutel, made that distinction visible in a March 1996 update: it said it was open to any company wanting to become an ISP, while also saying it had the exclusive right to sell communications services in the country. [S1]

The update offered a small snapshot of the network behind that policy. Hondutel reported five ISPs and four organisations directly connected, with 25 connections “in process.” In Tegucigalpa, it listed two Cisco 7000 routers and three servers for web, email and DNS. It separately counted 600 users on its X.25 network. The record does not explain what the 25 pending connections were, when they would be completed, or whether they were all ISP customers. The X.25 figure belongs to a separate network service and is not an Internet-subscriber total. [S1]

The price menu made the access tiers legible. Hondutel quoted $600 per month for direct Internet access at 64 kbps and $30 per month for dial-up. It did not specify installation charges, contract terms, traffic limits or service quality. These figures show what the carrier reported charging in March 1996; they are not an audited nationwide tariff or a measure of what every user paid. Hondutel said its upstream connection was in Reston, Virginia, via SprintLink, and that it paid Sprint International. [S1]

A January 1996 traceroute from the United Kingdom had already reached one Hondutel host through SprintLink. That test confirms a route to one address from one vantage point. It cannot establish that every ISP, organisation or city had access, nor does it measure retail service performance. [S2]

NetSys’s February 1997 account shows how the boundary looked to one private provider. The company said it operated in Tegucigalpa and San Pedro Sula, with two 128 kbps direct links to Hondutel costing $1,200 a month each. NetSys said it could provide customers only dial-up at 28.8 kbps because private firms in Honduras could not sell dedicated service; its own unlimited individual account cost $59.90 a month. The report is a provider’s description of its constraints and prices, not a legal ruling or a full survey of every ISP.

Its figures also belong to a different date and service context from Hondutel’s 1996 price list, so they should not be read as a verified price trend. [S3]

This is the distinction the record supports: Hondutel described an ISP market open to entrants, but the dedicated circuit remained a carrier-controlled input. A company could offer internet service without being free to resell a private leased line. The distinction matters because entry at the retail edge does not itself establish control over upstream capacity, customer service types or the ability to reach businesses that require dedicated access.

Hondutel said in March 1996 that it planned to expand to San Pedro Sula and La Ceiba within three months. That is a stated plan, not proof of completion. NetSys’s 1997 presence in San Pedro Sula suggests provider activity there by then, but the sources do not establish that Hondutel’s expansion caused it. The contemporary reports document a market being assembled, not a complete map of service or a national adoption count. [S1][S3]

Sources