Colombia - Fixed Broadband Market - Statistics and Analyses

Colombia's broadband penetration is relatively high for the region, though growth in the sector has been hampered by poor fixed-line infrastructure in many of the country's 32 departments. The government has launched several initiatives to increase broadband take-up and has in place the National ICT Plan 2008-2019 aimed at encouraging the use of ICTs and of internet services as a vehicle for economic growth. The Live Digital for the People 2014-2018 program is concentrated on promoting the use of ICT in sectors including agriculture, education, health and tourism, and also involves projects that subsidise internet access for schools, low-income households, and rural areas. There is also the Digital Connections Project, aimed at improving services in the more deprived urban areas, as well as the Computers for Schooling program.

These efforts have had considerable success, leading to far higher growth in the number of broadband subscriptions among the lower socio-economic groups in recent years.

The cable sector commands about half of the market by subscribers, with DSL having a declining share and with fibre-based broadband developing strongly, though most infrastructure as yet is concentrated in high-density urban areas. The resurgence of cable is largely due to the growing popularity of bundled services which upgraded cable infrastructure can support. However, growth in fibre broadband connections has far outpaced the other platforms, and the developing footprint of fibre networks is increasingly leading to the migration of DSL subscribers to fibre.

Colombia's leading broadband players are the fixed-line operators Claro, UNE-EPM (owned by the mobile operator Tigo), Movistar, and ETB. Claro provides cable modem access, UNE offers both DSL and cable modem services, while Movistar and ETB use DSL technology.

The cable TV sector has undergone major consolidation and, as a result, two companies, Claro and UNE/Tigo, together control the overwhelming majority of the market.

This report provides an overview of Colombia's fixed and fixed-wireless broadband markets, together with relevant statistics, analyses, and subscriber forecasts.

Key Developments:

Government investing COP200 billion in national Wi-Fi network;
Azteca Comunicaciones finishes fibre network rollout;
COP1.2 trillion to be invested in National Fibre Optic Project;
ETB expands its fibre service;
Report update includes the regulator's market data to March 2018, telco's operating data to Q3 2018, recent market developments.

Companies mentioned in this report include:

UNE-EPM (TigoUne), Claro (Telmex), Movistar (previously Telefónica Telecom), ETB, BT Colombia, Calipso, Caucatel, Colomsat, Synapsis, Emcali, Telebucaramanga, Edatel, DirecTV, Global TV.