The Chilean government has released a telecommunications report showing that broadband penetration has tripled over the past two years. Internet connections reached 90% of the populated territory in Chile, rising from 7.4 million to 11 million Chileans connected to the Internet.
About 474,000 rural settlements now have mobile broadband and voice services. The government attributed these achievements to its program named “Todo Chile Conectado.”
Chile’s president Sebastián Piñera pointed out that the United Nations has ranked Chile as among the top 20 countries who are emerging leaders in the development of e-government. “We are building a free public Wi-Fi network in main squares, libraries, municipalities and metro stations,” he said.
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Piñera also highlighted telecom improvements such as number portability for fixed and mobile phones and the elimination of long distance charges in the regions of Atacama, Coquimbo, Valparaíso, Maule, Bío Bío, Los Ríos and Los Lagos, which has allowed six million people to make long distance calls for the price of local calls.
In addition, the government has recently approved a new antenna law and will offer a tender which will allow the deployment of LTE.
According to the latest numbers from Chile’s secretary of telecommunications (Subtel), the telecommunications industry invested $2.4 billion in Chile in 2011, which is 25.4% more compared to 2010 and the highest amount in eight years.
Mobile broadband has surpassed fixed broadband in Chile, achieving nearly 3 million connections by December 2011, a growth of 104.8% since June 2009. Boosted by carrier subsidies, smartphones were key drivers for the growth in mobile broadband. At least six in 10 mobile broadband users now access the Internet through a smartphone. Subtel expects usage to grow 18-fold by 2016.
