At a Glance: Uruguay’s ‘fiberization' in full steam

Already one of the most connected countries in the Americas, Uruguay reached a rate of almost three-quarters fiber optics penetration by mid-2019, among the highest in the world.

Total fixed broadband accesses neared 1mn at the end of June, with fiber connections representing 733,091, according to the latest stats released by regulator Ursec.

In comparison, Brazil’s penetration was at 32.7% by this February, local regulator Anatel shows. Meanwhile, Chile, Mexico and Colombia had fiber optics penetration rates of 25.1%, 22.3% and 13.9% as of June 2019, according to OECD data. All figures refer to fixed broadband accesses.

Uruguay’s fiber connections grew 9% over June 2018, following the activation of around 62,000 subscriptions, compared to 3% growth of overall fixed broadband accesses.

State-run operator Antel has a virtual monopoly in the segment, with over 985,000 fixed broadband connections.

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Antel also leads in mobile telephony, accounting for 53% of the 5.43mn subscriptions reported at the end of June. Telefónica's Movistar had 30% and América Móvil’s Claro 17%.

Mobile telephony subscriptions grew by some 2% from the year before.

In line with a regional trend, pay-TV accesses continued to fall, declining 5.8% year-over-year to 688,157 subscribers last June. DirecTV led the market with 27.9% of all accesses.

Fixed telephony lines grew 1.4% to 1.16mn, with Antel accounting for 62% of the minutes of landline traffic to mobile phones.