Cisco | May 25, 2011 | Press Release

Peru Reaches a Penetration Rate of 3.47 Percent as Mobile Broadband Connections Continue to Rise

LIMA, Peru, May 25, 2011 – Cisco announced today the results of a new edition of the Cisco Broadband Barometer in Peru, reporting an annual growth of 14.1 percent in fixed broadband connections as of December 2010. The study, conducted every six months by the independent firm IDC and sponsored by Cisco, measures the increase in the number of broadband connections in Peru.

During the second half of last year, almost 39,000 broadband connections were added, reaching a penetration of 3.47 per 100 inhabitants. This percentage is still much lower than in countries like Venezuela (5.57 percent), Colombia (5.68 percent), Brazil (7.11 percent), Chile (10.78 percent), Argentina (11.71 percent) and Uruguay (12.32 percent). In the period between June and December 2010, the broadband market experienced a growth of 4.3 percent.

The Broadband Barometer predicts that the growing use of tablets and the attractive prices of laptops and notebooks will increase Internet penetration in the country. Also, the market might benefit from the national’s government continued policy of concessions that help to accelerate competition in the telecommunications market and from projects like FITEL (Fund for Investments in Telecommunications) that aim to reduce the digital gap and encourage the use of technology.

In addition, the study estimates that the implementation of optical fiber in cities other than Lima over the next three years will accelerate growth in the number of broadband connections in the central sierra and the south of the country.

Highlights:

• More than four-fifths (83.1 percent) of broadband connections are concentrated in Lima; 16.9 percent are elsewhere in the country.
• Almost a quarter (28.5 percent) of fixed broadband connections have speeds higher than 1 megabit per second, 55 percent have speeds between  512 kilobits per second and 1 Mbps, and 13.7 percent have speeds between 256 and 512 Kbps. Connection speeds higher than 1 Mbps grew 58 percent from the previous six-month period.
• Mobile Internet access is strongly increasing in Peru. By the end of December 2010, subscriptions reached 225,000, an increase of 39 percent from the first half of 2010. It represents an annual increase of 128.64 percent.
• In Lima, the growth of mobile access from the previous period was 48 percent, and in the rest of the country 22 percent.
• On average, between 2009 and 2010 the prices that Peruvians paid for low-speed Internet were reduced almost 50 percent. The fixed broadband market in Peru showed a considerable reduction in the price of the minimum-speed DSL connections, going from 91.6 soles in December 2009 to 42.4 soles in December 2010. Connections with a maximum speed of 4 Mpbs maintained their prices.

Supporting Quotes:

• Alvaro Merino-Reyna, general manager, Cisco Peru

“The role of the network is becoming increasingly pervasive in people’s lives and increasingly important to our national transformation. Together with the national government, it is necessary to define a more ambitious goal and a national broadband agenda to reach a competitive level. Broadband connections are still concentrated in the capital, and in order to reach more citizens, it is essential to generate projects and initiatives — both public and private — to bring connectivity to rural areas.”

“High-speed networks are the foundation of the knowledge economy, as they facilitate growth and help countries recover from the global economic crisis. Broadband offers a unique and profitable opportunity to increase Peru’s productivity and competitiveness.”

About Cisco Broadband Barometer

Cisco Broadband Barometer is an initiative to promote and encourage the accelerated growth of broadband connections in Latin America. It sets goals regarding the number of connections, establishes a periodical measurement of progress, publishes these results, and develops strategies with service providers and governments.

Currently, Cisco Barometer measures broadband growth in Argentina, Chile, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Venezuela, Peru and Uruguay. The Barometer has been supported in each case by the national government.