translated from Spanish: Government revealed unprecedented growth of connections 4G in Chile the 2018

this Wednesday the Ministry of transport and telecommunications unveiled a balance in which it was revealed a surprising increase in access to the internet at t raves of connections 4G in Chile. According to the statistical series to December 2018, in the last twelve months, it reached 15 million connections to the 4 G network, 35% more than 10.7 million reported at the end of 2017. In addition, investment in the telecommunications sector came to $1.064 billion dollars, higher than 6.2% compared to $1,002 billion registered in 2017, which speaks of a recovery after a major fall. “Today about 15 million users enjoy faster mobile connections, and 85% of these connections to the internet – this is eight out of ten – are through mobile devices, showing that people are adapting quickly to changes Digital. Now it is our turn to take on the challenge and bring the country back into the digital avant-garde paving the way for the deployment of future networks 5 G, and thus deliver a better digital connectivity to all Chileans, “said the Minister of transport and Telecommunications, Gloria Hutt, detailing that 80.4 per cent of mobile connections are currently realized through 4 G technology in our country. For its part, the Undersecretary for telecommunications, Pamela Gidi added that “we need to continue adding investment for the deployment of the necessary infrastructure, such as optical fiber, enabling you to deliver connection to all users, and for the correct deployment future networks of 5G. The series indicate that the country has 53 million in telecommunications services, with 2.8 services per person, which speaks of a growing digitisation of society and that it will undoubtedly deepen with the irruption of 5 G, scenario to which we have to build the conditions necessary for its correct implementation”. According to the information delivered, to December 2018 total penetration of the internet (most mobile fixed accesses 3 G and 4 G) reached 112.9 accesses per 100 inhabitants, with an annual growth of 8.5 percent. Total access to the internet, 85% is carried out via a mobile device. Of this total mobile access, a 93.4% is done through a Smartphone. In addition you can see that the rise of 35.2% of the 4G connections in the past 12 months contrasts with the fall of the 3G connections, that fell by 36,1% in 2018. In the case of the fixed internet connections, while the numbers show an increase in the number of connections, still it is not enough. December statistics show that fixed internet access grew 6.1% compared to the previous year, reaching 3.26 millions of connections. On the other hand penetration reaches 17.2 accesses per 100 inhabitants, demonstrating a gap. In addition, statistics show that 49.4% of households are equipped with residential fixed internet, number which grew slightly from the end of 2017, when the 47.6% of households connected with connection fixed residential internet access. Of the total of fixed accesses, a 87.6% corresponds to residential, while 12.4% to trade. Furthermore, nearly half of the fixed internet connections are in the Metropolitan Region. In terms of mobile and fixed telephony, until December of 2018, there were 25.1 million subscribers to mobile telephony, with a penetration of 133 subscribers per 100 inhabitants. Subscribers total, 48% corresponds to users with contract, while 52% are prepaid users. In the last twelve months reported, joined 2.2 million new contracts for postpaid (up 22%), while users of contract fell in 8,000 lines (fall of 0.1%). Regarding the use of the voice, this rose 13.3 with respect to the end of 2017, driven by the growth of mobile traffic, which rose 14.2% for 2018. With respect to fixed telephony, continue to fall the number of fixed lines available, reaching a penetration of 15.8 lines per 100 inhabitants. On the other hand, pay television had a slight 1% increase in subscribers for 2018, reaching a penetration of 17.6 subscribers per 100 inhabitants, and 57.6% of households in the country. VTR maintains the largest market share with 32.3% of the total of subscribers, followed by DirecTV (20.3%), Movistar (19.6%) and clear (12.2%).

Original source in Spanish