The state of play in Chile's telecom sector

Chile registered 6.11mn 5G connections at the end of 2024, up 58.8% on a year earlier, while 4G declined from 17.8mn to 16.2mn accesses.

Mobile internet (3G, 4G, 5G) penetration was 115% per 100 inhabitants, with 23.1mn connections, up 2.9%, according to latest data from regulator Subtel.

Movistar lost 4.6% of its mobile internet base, with market share falling from 20.9% in 4Q23 to 19.4%. 

Last year, Claro's connections grew 7%, Entel's 4.8% and WOM's 2.5%.

Entel achieved a mobile internet market share of 35.2%, WOM 25.6% and Claro 17.3%. VTR Mobile had 1.5% and Virgin Mobile 0.2%.

Mobile telephony reached a penetration rate of 130 subscribers per 100 inhabitants. Prepaid accounted for 27.7% of the total and postpaid 72.3%.

Entel's market share was 32.1%, Movistar's 23.4%, WOM's 22% and Claro's 21.7%.

Fixed internet

The number of fiber optics connections grew 8.2% and wireless technologies, including satellite connectivity, 10.9%.

The main technologies were fiber (72.4%), hybrid coaxial and fiber HFC (24.5%).

Chile registered 4.7mn fixed internet connections, up 3.67%. The number of Entel’s connections grew 35.5% to 435,022 for a market share of 9.3%.

Starlink reported an 81.4% increase and 74,271 connections last year. 

Fiber operator Mundo also registered growth with a 10.6% increase and 19.6% market share.

Claro, which bought VTR's business, lost 2.5% of subscribers but still has 1.36mn, making it the market leader with a 28.9% share. 

Telefónica lost 3.9% of its subscribers, reaching 1.34mn and a 28.5% market share. GTD registered a 2.9% decrease to 308,240 for a 6.6% market share. 

Fixed telephony connections declined 12.2% to 1.74mn lines and pay TV 7% to 2.86mn. 

Claro-VTR remained the pay-TV market leader with a 38.2% share, followed by Movistar with 20.5%, DirecTV with 17.9% and Mundo with 14.2%.