Paraguay has the lowest fixed-line telephone density in South America, with 5.6 lines per 100 residents, compared with 8.7 per 100 in Bolivia, 21.9 in Brazil, and 24.9 in Argentina.
[2] With only 5.6 percent of the population having access to a land-line connection,[1] the meager telephone network has resulted in rapid growth in mobile phone use.
[11][12][13] In what is seem as an attempt by the government to further control the media, the leader of the Paraguay Broadcasters Union (URP) has called for action against "more than 1,200 pirate radios operating in the country" which he accused of "inciting crime" on many occasions.
He also asked the telecoms watchdog CONATEL to withdraw the licences of all stations implicated in what he termed illegal acts, without specifying what they were.
New clauses in the law place a ban on advertising on such stations, restrict their transmission range, and open the possibility of legal action against their representatives if they broadcast without a licence.