The ICT Ministry published on March 17 the latest Information and Communication Technologies Bulletin for the third quarter of 2021, which shows the figures of how the country has been connected. According to the report, Colombia reached 28.3 million 4G connections, which means that it managed to exceed the figure of three previous quarters.
“Until 2018, 4G coverage in the country had advanced. However, it was necessary to implement strategies that would massify this type of mobile connectivity. With the boost of spectrum allocations during the 2019 auction, we have succeeded in accelerating and focusing all efforts at expansion and coverage, as well as the modernization of networks, which has allowed us to have an unprecedented increase in coverage throughout Colombia,” said ICT Minister Carmen Lygia Valderrama.
The head of the technology portfolio indicated that if all these efforts and programs are maintained, by 2025 there would be 80% rural 4G connectivity. This is a very important and valuable leap compared to coverage in 2018, which was only 9.7%. In the same way, this will lead the country, in that same year, to meet the target of 100% 4G mobile coverage in urban areas.
In the third quarter of 2021, total mobile internet accesses in Colombia reached 35.7 million, which is 5 million more than those recorded in the same quarter of the previous year. Thus, the number of mobile internet accesses per 100 inhabitants stood at 70.
The main technology for mobile internet access was 4G with 28.3 million accesses (percentage change of 8.2%); followed by 3G technology, with 6.3 million (percentage change of -6.12%) and 2G technology, with 1.1 million (percentage change of 19.7%). The report notes that 56 out of 100 mobile Internet accesses are made on demand mode, while by subscription they are 44 out of 100.
In the same period of time, the total number of fixed internet accesses in Colombia reached 8.25 million, that is, about 560,000 new accesses compared to those registered in the same quarter of the previous year, when it reached a figure of 7.69 million.
“These results show us that the country is on the right track to achieve greater connectivity and better service delivery. Proof of this is that 64 Mbps was the average national fixed internet download speed reached in September 2021, which represents an increase of more than 30 Mbps in the last year,” Valderrama said.
Bogotá, with 85.3 Mbps, has the highest download speed on the internet, followed by the departments of Valle del Cauca with 66.2 Mbps and Meta with 63.7 Mbps. Meanwhile, the download speed by socio-economic strata in recent quarters has shown an upward trend. For example, Stratum 1 went from 13.9 Mbps to 24.4 Mbps connection speed; Stratum 2 went from 19.8 Mbps to 43.5 Mbps; Stratum 3 went from 37.2 Mbps to 84.1 Mbps.
The provider with the highest number of fixed internet access was Comcel (3.18 million), followed by UNE EPM (1.71 million), Movistar (1.17 million) and ETB (700,000).
Total mobile phone lines in Colombia reached 73 million in the third quarter of 2021, 7.5 million more than in the same period in 2020. Meanwhile, the number of mobile telephone lines per 100 inhabitants throughout the country stood at 143.1 at the end of the third quarter of 2021.
As of September 2021, the provider with the highest number of mobile phone lines was Claro (34.4 million), followed by Movistar (17.9 million), TIGO (14.0 million) and Virgin (2.8 million).
At the end of the third quarter of 2021, the total number of fixed telephone lines in Colombia reached 7.39 million, 90,000 lines more than those registered in the same quarter of the previous year.
For its part, the number of fixed telephone lines per 100 inhabitants nationwide stood at 14.47 at the end of the third quarter of 2021.
Between July and September 2021, the top three destination countries for international calls were the United States, with about 50.1 million minutes; followed by Venezuela, with 5.1 million minutes, and Mexico, with 2.8 million minutes.
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