Colombia’s telecoms industry grows faster than the economy

The Colombian telecoms market grew 2.5 times faster than the country's GDP in 2023, according to a report from sector regulator CRC.

The findings are part of the annual ICT sector and postal services report, published this week. 

According to CRC, while GDP expanded 0.6% last year, the telecoms industry’s contribution to the economy grew 1.5%.

The industry generated revenues of 27.1 trillion pesos (US$6.5 billion), which represents an increase of 3.11%. Internet, fixed and mobile services accounted for 61.8% of last year’s revenues, according to the report.

Previously, the ICT ministry (Mintic) reported that UNE EPM had revenues of 406bn pesos in 2023, Claro 396bn, Movistar 263bn and ETB 149bn.

The data in CRC's report includes fixed and mobile telephony services, fixed and mobile internet, pay-TV and broadcast services (TV and radio).

In terms of broadcast services, CRC pointed out that 2023 revenues declined 8.8% in real terms.

BASE EXPANSION

The report also compiles operational and consumption data for 2023.

Among the highlights, Smart TV adoption grew by 9%, reaching 53% of households.

Fixed internet service connections grew by 0.6%, reaching 8.97 million connections. Fiber connections increased by 24.6%, representing 37% of total fixed internet accesses.

Mobile internet accesses grew by 12.1%, reaching close to 45mn connections. 

4G technology is the most widely used in the country, accounting for 89.8% of all accesses in 2023, while 3G had 9.4% and 2G 0.9%.

Colombia introduced 5G early this year.

Further report details can be found here, in Spanish.