Chile - Broadband and Broadcasting Market - Background Report

Synopsis

In Chile, high-speed Internet access became available in 1999 over cable modem, and in 2000 over ADSL. Gradually, users began to shift from dial-up to broadband services. The number of broadband subscribers overtook dial-up connections in August 2004. Five companies (Entel, Protel, Chilesat, Telsur and VTR) received WLL licences in July 2001, but Entel was the only one to develop the technology, launching WLL broadband for corporate customers. Metrópolis was possibly the first company, in July 2003, to launch a private wireless IP access service to the residential market in Chile using WiFi technology. Chile’s first pre-WiMAX network was launched in December 2005 by Entel. In March 2005, VTR was the first company in Latin America to offer an In-House Broadband Powerline (BPL) service commercially for its residential clients. But the service was expensive and short-lived, and had disappeared from the company’s offerings by 2007. This report provides background information for the more regularly updated Chile - Broadband and Broadcasting Market - Overview, Statistics and Forecasts. As such, it covers details on the history and development of Chile’s broadband and broadcasting market that are absent from the more up-to-date report, but it does not contain a broadband market analysis, forecasts, or statistics.