In an increasingly digitalized society, data consumption by users is constantly growing, which is clearly reflected in the commercial offer of companies in the sector: they increasingly offer more Gigabytes (GB) to their customers. Find out more about mobile internet use in Chile below.

According to the figures, as of June 2019, the average mobile Internet consumption per user is 10 GB, a figure similar to that observed in countries with greater economic development, according to the latest update from telecommunications regulator Subtel.

The average consumption almost triples to 3.8 GB per user registered in the same period of 2017 and reveals that a total annual growth of 77.1% has been generated.

Numerical portability also added a new record by totaling around 20 million shipments from the beginning of the system (2012) until September 2019, a figure of which 18,816,596 correspond to mobile shipments, while 1,016,050 correspond to numbers fixed. In this way, this policy promoted during the first government of President Piñera became the most relevant one that has been carried out in the telecommunications sector.

“The figures show us how our society has been changing with the arrival of new technologies. Today, a large part of Chileans have access to mobile Internet and a wide range of services according to their needs. As a government, we want to continue generating instances so that the telecommunications sector of the country continues to meet the needs of all its users in a competitive environment, as does the Number Portability policy promoted during the first government of President Piñera that today adds about 20 million ports, ”

said Minister of Transport and Telecommunications, Gloria Hutt. Mobile Internet use in chile

Growing Digital Connectivity in Chile: Rise in Data Consumption and Mobile Subscriptions

The statistical report also shows that prepaid users have an average monthly consumption of 2.7 GB, while postpaid users record a consumption of 13.4 GB.

Also, the number of mobile subscribers to postpaid plans (voice and multimedia) showed that it continues to grow and reached 12.7 million. Thus, it is close to reaching the number of prepaid users, who now total 12.9 million. However, the number of mobile phones operating in the country, those who have made or received at least one call in the last 30 days, totals 25,700,226 devices, higher than 23,534,748 in June 2018. Mobile Internet use in chile

For its part, the Undersecretary of Telecommunications, Pamela Gidi, said that

“the statistical series of SUBTEL show that Chileans want to be increasingly connected and with constant access to the network, that is why data consumption is constantly growing overuse of the voice These figures tell us about a new user profile, which is becoming more digital every day and as a telecommunications sector we must generate the necessary conditions so that we can continue to meet the connectivity needs of Chilean citizens. ”

Gidi added that “it is important that as users increase their data consumption, they can also use the tools that we have provided on our website, such as our consumption calculator ( www.subtel.gob.cl/calculadora ), which it will allow them to know their profile of data use and so they can hire the plan that best suits their needs in an informed way ”.

In this line, according to the figures, as of June 2019 there are already 53.9 million telecommunications services, equivalent to 2.8 services per user, which graphs the constant growth of contracts in the sector.

Internet in Chile

The penetration of fixed Internet to the home reaches 51.5% and the rise of 4G mobile internet services, which already reach 15.9 million accesses, is maintained.

The total Internet access (fixed + 3G and 4G mobile) reached 22 million with an annual growth of 7.1%, equivalent to 1.5 million new accesses.

Meanwhile, the fixed Internet has grown 7.7% in the last 12 months. As of June 2019, the main technologies are: HFC (53.5%), Fiber Optic (25.1%) and ADSL (14.3%).

Chile Mobile Internet

Of the total Internet accesses, 84.6% are mobile, and of the total mobile accesses, 94.1% correspond to smartphone browsing (79.6% of total accesses).

The penetration of 3G + 4G mobile Internet reached 97.5 accesses per 100 inhabitants, with an annual growth of 4.6 percentage points. In this way, 3G + 4G mobile accesses reached 18.6 million as of June 2019, with a growth of 7% in the last 12 months, equivalent to 1.2 million new accesses, driven by the development of 4G, which some years ago replaced 3G connections.

Another noteworthy aspect that the study threw is that 4G accesses to June 2019 reached 15.9 million connections, with a growth of 21.5% in the last 12 months, of which 2.8 million corresponded to new accesses last year. Thus, 4G technology is replacing 3G connections, which decreased 36.9% in the last 12 months.

Regarding the market share in 4G, Entel leads the segment with 31.4% of the total representation. They are followed by Claro, with 23.1%, and then Movistar and WOM, each with a 21.8% share. Meanwhile, in total participation (3G + 4G) Entel has 32.2%, Movistar 22.6%, Claro 21.8%, WOM 20.9%, Mobile VTR 1.4%, and Virgin 1% of the market. In this line, both WOM, Claro and Entel showed growth of 34.7%, 11.9% and 4.1%, respectively, in their participation in the last twelve months, however, Movistar saw a drop in 10.9% of its market share in the same period.

Regarding the participation of companies in mobile Internet data traffic in the first half of 2019, we can say that Entel has the largest share, with 31.4% of total traffic, growing 6.7 percentage points in the last twelve months. It is followed by WOM with 26.9%, Movistar with 26.1%, Claro with 15.1% and Mobile VTR with 0.5% of mobile data traffic.

Fixed Internet

Fixed Internet access in Chile reached 3.4 million as of June 2019, with a growth of 7.7% in the last 12 months. Thus, fixed Internet penetration is 17.8 accesses per 100 inhabitants, an increase of 0.97 percentage points compared to June 2018.

Of the total fixed Internet accesses, 88% correspond to residential accesses, while 12% correspond to commercial ones. Meanwhile, with respect to residential access, 51.5% of households in the country have fixed Internet, which means an increase of 2.97 percentage points in the last 12 months.

In terms of participation by the company, VTR leads the segment with 38%. Then, Movistar follows with 29.3%, Claro with 13.7%, GTD with 7.9%, Mundo Pacífico with 5.8% and Entel with 4.8%.

Notwithstanding the foregoing, almost half of the connections are in the Metropolitan Region.

Mobile Telephony

Mobile telephony reached a penetration rate of 134.5 subscribers per 100 inhabitants in June 2019. In turn, the growth trend of contract subscribers continues, which as of June 2019 represents 49.5% of total subscribers and already reached 12.7 million.

Concerning Chile market share, Entel leads the segment with 30.8%. It is followed by Movistar with 27.4%, Claro with 23.4%, WOM with 16.4% and VTR with 1%.

As of June 2019, Entel maintains the largest share of the contract market with 32.5%. They are followed by Movistar (28.5%), WOM (19.7%) and Claro (17.2%). In the case of prepayment, Claro leads with 29.5%, followed by Entel (29.1%) and Movistar (26.4%). The rest of the operators—VTR, Virgin, Telsur, Netline, Simple, and Wom—represent 15% of the prepaid market.

On the other hand, the total accumulated mobile voice traffic in the first half of 2019 increased by 10.5% compared to the same period in 2018.

Fixed Telephony

As of June 2019, Chile’s fixed telephone service penetration reached 15 lines per 100 inhabitants. In this line, statistics show us that in the last twelve months, the lines have decreased by 7.5%, following the trend of recent years.

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