Spotlight: LatAm fixed internet speeds

Chilean fixed broadband operator Mundo provided the fastest average speed, 281Mbps, of all Latin American operators in 2Q22, according to latest figures by speed measurement company Ookla.

The company also highlighted Chile as the country with the best fixed broadband speed globally, 216Mbps in 3Q22. It did not update these figures for the fourth quarter.

Latest figures from fiber optics association FBA relate to end-2021 and show that 18 major Latin American countries concentrated 103mn homes or buildings passed with fiber, up 29% compared to 2020. Subscriptions grew 47% to 46mn, according to a study SMC+ carried out for FBA.

Globally, fixed internet speeds increased by 28% in November 2022 year-on-year and mobile speeds by 17%, according to Ookla.

Fiber optics connections represented more than 60% of Chilean accesses by September 2022 at 2.83mn, up 27.8%. Next were HFC networks with 1.42mn, according to regulator Subtel.

Chile is the only Latin American country in the global top 10 of fastest internet speeds and among the countries with the fastest fiber optics development due to strong investments.

COLOMBIA

Average download speed was 90.8Mbps, according to Ookla, but regulator CRC claimed it was 110Mbps in the second quarter of 2022, up 100% annually.

Movistar was the fastest operator with 141Mbps in December 2022, followed by ETB with 94.5Mbps, Claro with 88.9Mbps and Tigo with 75.9Mbps, according to Ookla.

Movistar and ETB focus on fiber optics, which achieves up to 152Mbps, CRC said.

HFC networks, used by Claro and Tigo, ranked second with an average of 119Mbps.

PERU

Peru's average speed was 67.6Mbps by end-December, according to Ookla. Disruptor WIN led with 111Mbps.

WIN was also capturing the most accesses, while ranking third after Claro (26.7% of the market) and Movistar (54.5%) in terms of market share.

Second was fiber optics operator WOW, providing average speeds of 86.4Mbps.

The two biggest operators, Movistar and Claro, provided 52.2Mbps and 57.8Mbps.

ARGENTINA

The national average was 56.1Mbps, with upload speeds of 24Mbps.

Movistar, which is migrating its clients from copper to fiber, provided the fastest average download speeds at 92.8Mbps. The company wanted to pass 3.7mn homes with fiber in 2022, connect 1mn customers and deploy 15,000km of fiber.

Telecom Argentina's Personal brand provided 81.2Mbps on average. Personal was also stepping up fiber deployment to increase coverage and migrate customers. The company recently doubled the connection speed for all customers.

Telecentro was third with 74.8Mbps, followed by Claro with 52.7Mbps.

MEXICO

Average national download speed was 49.6Mbps, TotalPlay providing 80.4Mbps. TotalPlay is a fiber optics operator with 5mn subscribers.

Telmex provided 45Mbps, while focusing on increasing coverage.

Third was Megacable with 44.94Mbps and fourth Televisa’s Izzi, with 40.92Mbps. Both are deploying fiber optics in some areas of the country.

Last year, Megacable claimed to have 25% of its client base on fiber optics.

ECUADOR

Average download speed was 46.8Mbps and upload speed 43Mbps, according to Ookla.

Leader Netlife achieved 67.6Mbps, followed by Celerity with 53.7Mbps, TV Cable with 43.7Mbps and Claro with 40.5Mbps.