The number of people across Latin America using their mobile devices to access the internet is set to grow by 50 per cent by the end of the decade, according to a new GSMA study. It forecast that 150 million new mobile internet subscribers will be added in the region by 2020, bringing the total to 450 million and driving economic growth, innovation and digital inclusion.
“Latin America has seen rapid growth in the number of mobile internet subscribers over recent years, helping to build an ‘app economy’ in areas such as mobile commerce and mobile content, and supporting a flourishing local start-up environment,” said Mats Granryd, Director General of the GSMA. “This is due in large part to local mobile operators being able to successfully migrate existing subscribers to smartphones and mobile broadband networks, despite dealing with growing competitive and regulatory pressures in many regional markets.”
According to the report, the Latin America region will enjoy strong subscriber growth for the remainder of the decade, as large markets such as Brazil, Colombia, Mexico and Peru add millions of new subscribers. The overall number of unique mobile subscribers in Latin America is forecast to reach 524 million by 2020, up from 414 million at the end of 2015, making Latin America the second-fastest growing global region during this period after Sub-Saharan Africa. Mobile subscriber penetration is forecast to increase from 65 per cent of the region’s population in 2015 to 78 per cent by 2020. However, the picture varies widely by country, with penetration currently as low as 28 per cent in Cuba, but above 90 per cent in markets such as Argentina, Chile and Uruguay.
