Telecommunications Infrastructure
Since Chile was the first country in its region to deregulate the telecommunications industry, this created the necessary competitive environment to foster innovation and growth in this area. A quick glance at some key indicators gives a better idea of how developed the sector is.
Telecommunications Infrastructure and Access |
|
|
2001 |
Telephone mainlines |
|
Per 1,000 inhabitants |
233 |
In largest city (per 1,000 inhabitants) |
333 |
Waiting list (thousands) |
32 |
Revenue per line ($) |
710 |
Cost of local call ($ per minute) |
0.10 |
Mobile phones (per 1,000 inhabitants) |
342 |
International telecomm |
|
Outgoing traffic (minutes per subscriber) |
87 |
Cost of call to US ($ per 3 minutes) |
3.20 |
Source: ITU and UNESCO
Investment into telecomm is continuing with mobile and local telephony representing the largest recipients of funds.
Source: Subtel
Compañía de Telefonos de Chile (CTC) was the long time leader in local telephony in Chile but was forced into a competitive situation with the liberalization effort. Currently, there are 12 local service providers. CTC is still the dominant player, though, controlling 75% of the market, while the second place is held by an American firm, VTR, with 7% market share [4].
Long distance service is a more competitive environment although there are slightly fewer providers than for local service. Here market share is more evenly distributed among 10 providers. Market share corresponds to the incumbent Empresa Nacional de Telecomunicaciones (ENTEL) with 38%, CTC, Chilesat and BellSouth [4].
Mobile telephone technology in Chile shared a similar experience as it did in much of the rest of the world. The adoption of the technology has become so fast and so widespread that subscription rates are expected to surpass those for fixed-line telephony n the near future. It first became available in Chile in 1989. The evolution of the mobile phone industry can be better understood from the data below:
|
1991 |
1992 |
1993 |
1994 |
1995 |
1996 |
1997 |
1998 |
1999 |
2000 |
Subscribers |
36,136 |
64,438 |
85,186 |
115,691 |
197,314 |
319,474 |
409,740 |
964,248 |
2,260,687 |
3,401,525 |
Penetration |
0.3 |
0.5 |
0.6 |
0.8 |
1.4 |
2.2 |
2.8 |
6.5 |
15.0 |
22.6 |
Growth rate |
|
78% |
32% |
36% |
71% |
62% |
28% |
135% |
134% |
50.4% |
Source: Subtel 2001
When licenses for this area were originally granted, the country was divided into two service regions: Santiago-Valparaiso and the rest of Chile . CTC and BellSouth serviced the former and VTR and ENTEL took the latter. Eventually, VTR and CTC merged to form Startel and were able to provide nationwide service. Startel was then purchased by Telefonica Movil, which gave the Spanish player a strong foothold in the Chilean mobile telephony market. Market share as of 2002 stands at ENTEL (37%), Telefonica Movil (30%), BellSouth (17%) and SamrtCom (15%) [4].