Cisco: Broadband connections pass 500,000

Chile ended the first quarter with more than 500,000 broadband connections in service, according to the local division of US network equipment provider Cisco (Nasdaq: CSCO). Cisco, in partnership with tech consultancy IDC Chile, started monitoring broadband penetration in 2003 and suggested the country should aim to have one million such connections in service by the national bicentenary in 2010. Chile has therefore achieved the halfway goal about 18 months sooner than estimated. Nevertheless, telecoms undersecretary Christian Nicolai chastised the operators this week, claiming they are restricting bandwidth unnecessarily. Network operators could easily double the bandwidth available to subscribers without incurring additional operating costs, he said. This implies that there is excess capacity available to increase penetration in areas where inhabitants cannot pay broadband rates. The latest figure given by Cisco and IDC is 537,153 connections, up 7.2% compared to year-end 2004. Uptake was most notable in the corporate sector, with 20% more firms using broadband than in December 2004. Residential connections increased 5%, government connections 8% and the education sector saw 1% growth. Penetration in the capital Santiago is now 4.8%, but Region II in the north has 6%. Cisco and IDC calculated that there are 851,000 homes with PCs in Chile, and broadband penetration among these homes is 63%.