Snapshot: The status of Uruguay’s ICT market

Latest statistics show that Uruguay ended 2019 with around 11,410km of installed fiber optics networks, 2,039km of which in the Montevideo department alone.

According to regulator Ursec, the country broke the symbolic benchmark of 1mn fixed broadband connections last year, with fiber accounting for 768,149 of the total, up 3.5% year-over-year. Next came DSL cable, with some 187,000 connections.

With the fiber expansion, 156,000TByte of data crossed the fixed networks, compared to almost 120,000TByte the year before.

State-run operator Antel has a virtual monopoly in the fixed segment, accounting for nearly all corporate and residential accesses.

MOBILE ANTENNAS

In mobile telephony, 7,896 radio base stations (antennas) were installed by end-December, 51% of which were concentrated in the Montevideo, Canelones and Maldonado departments.

Antel owned 58.3% of the antennas, followed by Claro (20.9%) and Movistar (20.8%).

4G technology now covers 82.5% of Uruguay, up from 56.4% at end-2018.

Antel also leads the mobile market with 53.6% of the 5.66mn overall subscriptions, which were up from 5.46mn in 2018.

Movistar lost slightly and had 29.5%, while Claro inched up to 17%.

Just over 37% of all mobile telephony lines were postpaid.

PAY TV AND FIXED TELEPHONY

Meanwhile, pay-TV accesses continued to fall, declining some 3% to 677,290 subscribers. And 54.5% of all subscriptions used coaxial cable, and 42% used satellite.

Bersabel (Cablevisión) leads in Montevideo, the country’s largest pay-TV market, whereas DirecTV Uruguay leads in the rest of the country. 

Contrary to regional or global trends, fixed telephony lines continue to grow in Uruguay, having reached 1.17mn (up 1%).

More detailed statistics on Uruguay's telecoms market can be found here.