2008 Latin America - Telecoms and Fixed-line Statistics (tables only)

Executive Summary

Most telecom markets in Latin America have been both privatised and liberalised. Privatisation, however, has met with considerable opposition in a number of countries. While private investment has contributed to rapid growth in the non-basic services, such as mobile and long distance telephony, fixed lines have virtually ceased to grow, despite a low 18% teledensity. Countries with poor infrastructure have leapfrogged into new applications such as VoIP and WiMAX. However, telecom laws lag behind technological advances, leaving numerous grey areas that have resulted in acrimonious legal battles among companies, regulators, and governments.

In Latin America, telecom infrastructure varies from nonexistent to rudimentary, and from adequate to well advanced. Despite a low 18% teledensity (USA' s teledensity is almost 60%), fixed-line growth has stagnated since 2001 even in the major markets. This basic telephony stagnation is coupled with a general shift from fixed-line to mobile phones. On a positive note, there is a growing demand for high-speed data services, and fixed-line operators are looking to ADSL services to increase their revenue potential. A number of fixed-line companies have also introduced prepaid voice services in order to reduce payment defaults.

Latin America is also becoming one of the world' s most promising broadband markets, growing at a CAGR of 54% from 2003 to 2007. The region' s broadband leaders are Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Colombia, and Chile, and in early 2008, these five countries accounted for around 86% of all broadband subscribers in the region. The options most available are DSL, cable modem, and wireless broadband. Of these, ADSL has emerged as the clear leader.

The build out of fibre optic networks continues to grow, driven by the explosion of the mobile markets, the increase in broadband access in the local loop, and the growth of Internet and IP based services. There has, however, been hardly any activity in terms of FttH deployments.

This report provides 123 statistical tables relating to the telecom markets of 26 Latin American countries, and is extracted from the full annual market reports.