The trend is clear: Chileans are choosing the highest speed networks when it comes to their devices and connections at home. This is confirmed in a recent report from the Undersecretary of Telecommunications (SUBTEL), which details the main figures for the sector corresponding to June 2023.
The report revealed that, in the first half of this year, 5G connections experience growth of 232% compared to the same period in 2022. This translates to 2.8 million devices are already connected to this high-speed network.
In contrast, the 4G network shows a slight decrease, from 20.3 million devices in the first half of 2022 to 18.4 million in 2023.
Claudio Araya, Undersecretary of Telecommunications, said that “we see how today’s users want high-speed connections, first because it can be used for people’s current connection needs. We also see how the deployment of 5G competition and fiber optic projects with greater availability in the country, reaching different corners and more users.
Broadband and fiber optic connections
Talking about fixed internet, fiber optics continues to consolidate themselves as the preferred choice for users. The numbers show that 68.9% of fixed Internet connections, that is, 3,071,254 connections, are made through this medium. Likewise, it is highlighted that 62.6% of homes in Chile have a fixed Internet connection.
In the last 12 months, Movistar consolidated its leadership and increased its market share from 29.8% to 31.7%. In second place is VTR, a company that lost more than 130 thousand clients in a year and from 27% to 23.7%. Mundo continues to grow and maintains the third position, with 17.8% (a year ago it had 15.2%). They followed him GTD group (7.3%, also considering GTD Manquehue, Telsur and Telcoy), Intel (7.1%) y Clearly (6.7%), a company that has lost more than 30% of fixed internet customers in a year. WOM fiber has 4.5% and managed to exceed 200,000 clients, with a growth of 40% every year.
Among the satellite providers Starlink has 28,671 active services, with an increase of 638% year-on-year, while Hughesnet maintains just over 10,200 clients, losing almost a third of those it had in June last year.
Entel maintains strong leadership in mobile
As 5G and fiber optic connections continue to evolve, Telecommunications companies are trying to maintain and increase their market share.
Entel continues to lead the number of mobile phone service subscribers, with 8,612,756 lines in June 2023, with a market share of 32.75%. It has a 2.3% growth in its customer base in a year.
In second place is Movistar, with 6,746,275 clients (25.65%), followed by WOM, with 5,656,308 (21.51%).
On the other hand, the flight of subscribers that Virgin Mobile has is extraordinary, exceeding 300 thousand lines during 2016. The company closed the first half of this year with 57,897 customers, with a year-on-year decrease of 41. 1 %.
Meanwhile, in mobile internet connections the Subtel report maintains that Entel continues to lead the segment, with a 34.1% market share.
Meanwhile, WOM, last year, registered an increase of 1.8% in mobile connections compared to last year and consolidated itself as the second mobile Internet operator (including 3G, 4G and 5G), with a market share of 25.6%. If 2G is also considered, the participation of the purple operator reaches 25.3%.
Niklas Lind, CMO of WOM, said that these results “challenge us to continue to innovate in search of new ways to improve the customer experience. Our customers are at the center of all our business decision and every day they inspire us to continue to provide the best service at fair prices.”
