Chile: Operators Speed up 4G and NGN Deployments to Cope with Growing Demand for Content and Applications

Summary Telecom services in Chile generated an estimated $7.4bn in revenue in 2012, up 9.4% from 2011. We expect mobile data to grow the fastest, at a 15.4% CAGR during 2012-2017. Fixed broadband revenue will expand at a 7.5% annual rate as a result of broader adoption as well as ARPS growth. Key Findings The Chilean telecom market generated an estimated $7.4bn in service revenue in 2012, up 9.4% from the previous year. The mobile voice and data segments alone generated 66.4% of the total revenue of the sector, while the pay-TV and fixed broadband segments accounted for 12% and 11.1% of total revenue respectively. As we move forward, we expect mobile data to be the fastest growing revenue category, expanding at a 15.4% CAGR in the 2012-2017 period and generating 23.7% of all telecom revenue by 2017. Growth in this segment will come mainly from the rapid uptake of 3G connections, supported by the popularity of smartphones and the growing penetration of mobile broadband connections (via USB modems), already among the highest in Latin America. Operators are also deploying their LTE networks, at least one of which will be launched commercially late in the year. Over the same period, fixed broadband revenue will expand at a 7.5% annual rate as a result of broader adoption and ARPU growth, as customers continue to demand connections that support the traffic generated by data-intensive applications, such as video streaming, and as operators continue to roll out NGNs. Pay-TV revenue will keep growing moderately over the forecast period, at a 4.1% CAGR, supported by sustained subscriber growth and increasing customer spending on premium and HD content. Synopsis NA