Uruguay: Uruguay Communication Profile 2012
2012/04/06
Uruguay Communication Profile 2012
09/11/2010 Telecoms, Mobile, Broadband
Uruguay future is bright. He is one of the safest countries in Latin America - peaceful, politically stable, corruption-free and not prone to natural disasters. With a highly skilled workforce and one of the best infrastructures in Latin America, Uruguay has an excellent reputation among international investors. He is one of the regional leaders in several key indicators, such as adult literacy, teledensity and Internet penetration. Uruguay was able to overcome the global financial crisis better than most other Latin American countries, and the slowdown had little impact on the telecommunications market.
Despite being a monopoly, his local sector of fixed telephony teledensity reached the second highest in Latin America after Costa Rica (bar a few Caribbean islands richest). Since 2006, however, the market for fixed line Uruguay was on a slippery slope, reduced by a small percentage each year.
The Crown corporation outgoing Antel, is exclusive of the country's local fixed line operator, but in competition with other companies in the long-distance telephony. Thanks to its mobile subsidiary Ancel, it controls about 40% of mobile market.
After lagging behind the rest of the region for many years the mobile market in Uruguay has experienced tremendous growth since it was opened to competition. Improved services and prices fell, lifting mobile penetration of the country to one of the highest in Latin America. Almost all of the population can afford a mobile phone, and many citizens own two combined. Mobile penetration stood at above 100% in August 2008 but continues to grow.
However, while the maturity of the market helps to raise levels of ARPU, revenue increases for future traders are likely to come from value-added services, 3G, mobile broadband and other new technologies, rather than an increase in the number of subscribers.
He was one of the first Latin American country to launch 3G networks and achieve nationwide coverage UMTS. The three mobile operators (state-owned Ancel, Movistar Telefonica, América Móvil and Claro) offers mobile broadband and 3G services. It is estimated that 3% of the population opted for mobile broadband, and the number of subscribers is growing.
The fixed broadband market is dominated by Antel, which has a market share of 94%. Only one firm - fixed wireless operator Dedicado - offers real competition, with about 6% market share. All remaining suppliers have jointly market share below 1%.
Fixed broadband has enormous growth potential, but the speeds of ADSL are low and prices are high. Although Antel has performed well as a state monopoly in the infrastructure sector intensive landline, it has not been such a success in the broadband market. In terms of broadband penetration, Uruguay, the third largest in Latin America after Argentina and Chile. But the high numbers of broadband penetration hide a less bright picture. Broadband connections in Uruguay are considerably slower than the rest of Latin America, with most connections still less than 512Kb / s. At speeds greater than 3Mb / s DSL service Antel is about three times more expensive than similar services in neighboring Brazil, Argentina and Chile.
Market Overview:
- After the success of the Plan Ceibal, in which all students of primary schools in the country had their own laptop with Internet access, Uruguay announced it would extend the system to secondary education. Organizers Plan Ceibal have set up a consultancy to advise other countries wishing to replicate the experience of Uruguay.
- He is the deployment of digital terrestrial television using the European DVB standard, the government has adopted for that reason be more appropriate for software development and local content.
- He is one of the few countries in the world where broadband access via cable modem is prohibited. There was talk of regulatory changes to legalize cable broadband as it should allow competition in the broadband market.
- A new submarine cable to optical fiber between Uruguay and Argentina, should be operational by end-2010, is expected to increase Internet bandwidth in Uruguay five times or more. This should help boost broadband and lower prices.
Internet country code:
.uy
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