Almost 4 out of 10 internet connections in Argentine homes exceed 100 Mbps

By Argentine Internet Chamber

This is an automated translation of the press release issued in Spanish

Buenos Aires, August 13, 2024. The Argentine Internet Chamber –CABASE- presented new results from the latest edition of the CABASE Internet Index, a study that reports on the state of connectivity and internet infrastructure in the country. The study shows that 36% of households with a fixed internet connection register a speed exceeding 100 Mbps, a figure that almost doubles the share that this range of connection speeds -the highest in the survey- had in August of last year, when only 20% of households had a connection of more than 100 Mbps.

Likewise, the CABASE survey shows that 26% of households have connection speeds between 50 Mbps and 100 Mbps - a share practically identical to that of the previous year - resulting in 62% of fixed Internet connections in Argentine homes already exceeding 50 Mbps, showing significant progress in terms of connection speed, of 15 percentage points compared to the measurement of August 2023, at which time connections exceeding 50 Mbps had a share of 47%.

At the lower end, only 5% of households have a connection speed below 6 MB, compared to 11% recorded during 2023.

The series is completed by 15% of households with speeds between 6 and 20 Mbps, 5 percentage points below last year's figure, and 19% with speeds between 20 and 50 Mbps, a figure that also fell from one year to the next by 3 percentage points, clearly showing the trend towards migration to higher speeds.

Regarding these results, Ariel Graizer, president of the Argentine Internet Chamber (CABASE), stated: “The Internet industry is an industry of industries, since it is responsible for generating the critical infrastructure that the country and its people need to grow, to enter the digital economy, the knowledge economy, the economy of sustainable and long-term development. Developing the Internet connectivity infrastructure will allow us to build the foundations of a new Argentina, in which the incredible human talent we have can unleash its full potential. The data in this report tells us that despite the enormous difficulties we have had to face in recent years, both at the macroeconomic and regulatory level, we have made progress in terms of household penetration and connection speed, although the fiber optic penetration indicators show us lagging behind other countries in the region.”

Penetration and universalization of access

According to the survey conducted by CABASE, 88% of Argentine households now have a fixed internet connection, registering a growth of 2.5 percentage points compared to the survey conducted in August 2023.

The CABASE Internet Index also focuses on households that do not currently have fixed internet service. In this regard, the results of the study indicate that within the 12% of households that do not currently have a fixed internet connection, 78% end up accessing the internet through their mobile phone data service (42%) or using a shared Wi-Fi connection (37%), while the remaining 22% claim to have no type of internet connection at home.

Development of Optical Fiber

According to the results of the CABASE study, 69% of households with fixed internet have at least one fiber optic provider available in their area. Of these households, 52% said they knew of more than one fiber optic provider in their area - in August 2023 this figure was 33%.

Among the reasons why households with fiber optic availability in their area do not contract the service with that technology, 31% said they were satisfied with their current service and provider and 31% said that the fiber optic provider does not carry out the installation, while 26% indicated they would not change technology due to cost issues and 12% for other unspecified reasons.

The CABASE study delves into the technologies for accessing fixed Internet in CABA, Mendoza, Buenos Aires, Santa Fe and Córdoba. Thus, we can see that 53% of the households connected in these 5 districts access via optical fiber; 26% via cable modem; 10% via a wireless connection; 8% via ADSL and only 2% use the satellite network as their Internet access technology.

Regarding these data, Ariel Graizer commented: “Fiber optics is the only technology capable of ensuring the provision of bandwidth that households demand for home office, studying and being able to use entertainment applications that require ever greater capacities on an increasing number of connected devices. The heavy tax burden, the rates charged and the feeling of having a stone in your shoe, especially in some regions and districts of the country, made and still make the deployment of fiber optics in Argentina very difficult and this is reflected in the indicators of the participation of fiber optics in the total number of household connections. We need to move quickly in regulatory simplification and the reduction of the tax burden on connectivity services so that, together with the elimination of the barriers that impose obstacles to the deployment of infrastructure in many municipalities, the investment of SMEs and cooperatives, which are those who bring the Internet to all corners of our vast geography, is dynamized.”

The full CABASE Internet Index report for the First Half of 2024 can be accessed by clicking here>

About the CABASE Internet INDEX:

The CABASE Internet Index summarizes, with sources from the Argentine Internet Chamber (CABASE) and third parties, the state of connectivity and fixed Internet services in Argentina and the region.

Methodology: The production of the report (design, implementation and processing of the survey) was carried out by BB Media (www.bb.vision), under the supervision of CABASE.

-Information Unit: People between 16 and 65 years old.

-Sample: 800 cases nationwide.

-Collection: Online survey panel: VOICE - BB Media.

-Instrument: Online survey conducted in May 2024

About the Argentine Internet Chamber –CABASE–:

Founded in 1989, the Argentine Internet Chamber (CABASE) is the entity that brings together companies and organizations from the different verticals of the Internet ecosystem in Argentina. Providers of Internet access services, telephone and TV and entertainment services, telecommunications operators and carriers, cooperatives, platforms and online content providers, hosting services and data centers, universities, public organizations, intermediary entities, among other actors, make up this chamber characterized by innovation, diversity and its federal scope. Its members are present in the 500 most important cities in the country, providing broadband services to more than one and a half million customers and generating employment for more than 60,000 people directly and another 60,000 indirectly in its value chain.

At the international level, CABASE is a founding member of eCOM-LAC , LACNIC and LAC-IX. It also maintains a permanent and active participation in the main international organizations and forums related to the Internet and ICTs, such as ICANN , the World Summit on the Information Society , the Internet Governance Forum and the International Alliance of ISPs.

CABASE hosts a network of Internet Exchange Points (IXPs). The first national IXP is located in Buenos Aires, which is the national Internet traffic exchange point and was the first initiative of its kind in Latin America. It also has regional IXPs in Buenos Aires, GBA Zona Norte, Rosario, Neuquén, Bahía Blanca, Mendoza, Santa Fe, Partido de La Costa, Córdoba, La Plata, Mar del Plata, Posadas, Bariloche, Puerto Madryn, Junín, San Luis, Tucumán, Pergamino, Sáenz Peña (Chaco), Jujuy, Salta, Tandil, Resistencia, San Juan, Viedma, Río Gallegos, Río Cuarto and Corrientes, and plans to continue opening new IXPs in different locations throughout the country.

For more information, visit: www.cabase.org.ar