Peru's Teledensity is Lowest in Latin America, says New Report

PRLog (Press Release) – May 13, 2008 – Report Buyer, the online destination for business intelligence for major industry sectors, has added a new report analysing the telecoms market in Peru.

“2008 Latin America - Telecoms, Mobile and Broadband in the Andean Bloc”, which is available at http://www.reportbuyer.com/go/BUD00250 reports that Peru’s teledensity is among the lowest in Latin America. Telecoms infrastructure reflects the country’s poverty map, with most of the fixed lines concentrated in Lima.

The report highlights that the government aims to bridge the digital divide through rural projects sponsored by FITEL, a fund that finances rural operators under the rule of less-bid subsidy. Competition is strongly encouraged, and a single telecoms concession regime was adopted in July 2007, facilitating the process of licensing and convergence.

The report shows that mobile number portability has been made compulsory for all operators from 2010. Peru’s mobile penetration is about 36% lower than average for Latin America, which closely matches the country’s other economic indicators.
The mobile market, however, is in full swing; in 2007, Peru had the third highest mobile growth rate in South America. Nevertheless, there remain huge discrepancies between urban and rural regions; in mountainous areas, where many people lack even the basic necessities, mobile phones are a rarity.

Authors of the report note that three companies compete in the Peruvian mobile market: Telefónica’s Movistar is the leader, América Móvil is in second place, while Nextel Perú, primarily catering to corporate customers, has a small market share but the best Average Revenue Per User (ARPU). They further note that the number of SMS messages in Peru escalated in 2007, reaching an average of around 7.8 million SMS messages a day, a 250% increase compared with the number of daily massages in 2006.

The study further shows that Internet user penetration in Peru is considerably higher than average for Latin America, a remarkable achievement compared with the country’s other economic indicators. Indeed, with its low teledensity, Peru has an exceptionally high Internet-access-to-fixed-line ratio. The success of the Internet in Peru is primarily due to the mushrooming of cheap public Internet facilities known as cabinas públicas. In fact, Peru is a world leader in terms of users who access the Internet in public places. The Peruvian government is aiming to increase broadband penetration from 2% to more than 3% by 2011.

“2008 Latin America - Telecoms, Mobile and Broadband in the Andean Bloc” is available from Report Buyer. For more information go to:   http://www.reportbuyer.com/telecoms/country_overviews_te ...

Report Buyer product ID: BUD00250