Latin America Leads in the Expansion of Mobile Telephony
The growth of mobile phones in the region is significantly higher than that of Europe. Costa Rica and Brazil are the countries with the greatest indices of mobile phone penetration in the telecommunications market.
The report Infraestructura en el desarrollo de América Latina(Infrastructure in the Development of Latin America) concludes that the development of mobile telephony in Latin America stands out because of its sustained growth and expansion perspectives.The median growth of these technologies in 18 countries of the continent by far exceeds that of Europe, Asia, and Africa.
When comparing the growth and penetration rates of mobile telephony in the market, it may be observed that only the Dominican Republic maintained a stable penetration rate of around 90 percent. The other countries in the region showed an compound annual growth rate that goes from 2 percent in Venezuela to 23 percent in Costa Rica.
Nine countries registered penetration indices with lower growth, although very close to 100 percent (Bolivia, Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Peru and the Dominican Republic).
Costa Rica was the country with the greatest growth level due to the entry of new players into a market with a repressed supply. Following is Brazil, with a CAGR (Compound Annual Growth Rate) of 17 percent: mobile phone users increased to 80 million, ranking this country as the one with the second largest growth rate.
Half of the countries in the continent also exceeded the barrier of a higher number of mobile phone users than number of inhabitants. This increase in the mobile phone penetration levels makes it necessary to promote the benefits of this technology, integrating it to the mobile wide band or increasing the use of applications and services provided by mobile phones to increase social inclusion.
Another challenge is that there are still segments of population without access to mobile phones in countries where the penetration exceeds 100 percent. This is due to multiple phenomena: some middle and high social class users have more than one mobile phone; many users have more than one SIM card to take make the most out of the advantages of the different operators.
The goal to consider is to achieve growth not only in urban areas, allowing for the integration of the lowest sectors of the demographic pyramid.
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