Latin America Broadband Jumps

Mexico grows most in broadband users, while Colombia sees the strongest increase in Internet usage.

Mexico is seeing the strongest growth in broadband Internet in Latin America. (Photo: Government of Navojoa, Mexico)

The number of broadband Internet users in Latin America jumped by 38.2 percent last year to 27.7 million, according to a Latin Business Chronicle analysis of new data from the International Telecommunications Union (ITU).

That was five times more than the growth seen in Internet in general, where the number of total users increased by seven percent to 156.9 million.

Those results come as sales of notebook PC’s are growing strongly in Latin America, according to new data from market researcher DisplaySearch. The number of notebook PC’s are likely to grow by 19.8 percent this year to 5.4 million units. Only China can boast higher growth, while global sales will fall by 0.1 percent. Meanwhile, sales of mini-notes (netbooks) are expected to jump by 88.1 percent to 1.9 million units, DisplaySearch estimates.

For every 10 percentage-point increase in high-speed Internet connections there is an increase in economic growth of 1.3 percentage points, The World Bank said in a recent report.

“The report is conclusive on its message to governments on the need to foster the adoption of new communications technologies,” Andres Maz, executive director of advanced technology policy at Cisco Systems in Washington, told the Inter-American Dialogue’s Latin America Advisor (see Latin America: Smartphone Outlook). “Broadband networks and ICT are a critical foundational element for the information economy and countries' ability to compete.”Mexico saw the strongest growth in broadband.