LatAm's 4G LTE leaders and laggards

With 4G LTE on the rise in most Latin American markets, which countries are striding ahead in terms of adoption?

Consulting firm 5G Americas released an updated version of its Latin America LTE penetration index which gives an overview of the state of play in the first quarter of the year.

And for the second time in a row, Uruguay is top in the region, with a rate of nearly 55.8%, up from 48.9% in the previous quarter. The country is followed by Chile at 20.2% (17.9% in Q4).

Argentina has made important strides and climbed two positions in the ranking, reaching a 16.0% penetration rate, up from 10.4%. Penetration in Brazil was 15.5%, up from 11.7%, and in Peru 14.7%, up from 12.8%, complete list.

The average LTE penetration rate in Latin America is now 11.35% up 2.44 percentage points from Q4.

All the other LatAm markets have below-average LTE penetration rates.

The technology is available in 18 Latin American markets, with only Cuba and El Salvador without operators offering it.

Central America remains the slowest sub-region in terms of LTE adoption in Latin America, 5G Americas said. Honduras, Guatemala and Nicaragua have penetration rates below 1%.