The mobile line penetration in Ecuador is 108%, with 8.4% of people in the country having a smartphone, according to a report by the Ecuadorian Minister of Telecommunications and Information (MINTEL).
The report, based on a survey of nearly 22,000 households in December, 78.8% of households own cellphones, which is 8.9 points higher than recorded in 2008. The survey also found that 24.7% of Ecuadorian households have a desktop computer and 9.8% own a laptop. The total Internet penetration in Ecuador was at 36.77% at the end of 2011, with a total of more than 5.4 million users nationwide, which was a seven-fold increase compared with a similar survey conducted in 2006.
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The survey was conducted in order to better understand the advances in telecommunications services and use of ICTs at the national level to improve public policy, according to Minister Jaime Guerrero Ruiz and Byron Villacis, director of the National Institute of Statistics and Censuses. Based on the data presented, Guerrero emphasized that “ICT are evolving rapidly, and to implement them in the country is a challenge that every day is specified and evidence on the dynamics reflected in the positive numbers presented, most associated indicators.”
Men (52.9%) are more likely to own a cellphone than women (47.1%); 11.7% of cellphone owners are between the ages of 16 and 24, and 11.5% aged between 25 to 34. Guayas has the highest number of people with smartphones at 14.3%, followed by El Oro at 11.2%.
The survey also noted that 32.6% of the population used the Internet mainly to communicate with family and friends, while 31.1% used it for information. About 55% of people who used the Internet did it at least once per day, while 39.5% did at least once per week. In urban areas, 57% of people used the Internet at least once per day, while in rural areas 51.6% of people used the Internet at least once per week.
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