Uruguay - Broadband connections Grew 31% in during the last year

[cisco] Cisco and the Uruguayan Agency for the Development of Electronic Government and Knowledge-based Society (AGESIC) announced the results of Cisco's Broadband Barometer, showing a growth of 31% in broadband connections in Uruguay from June 2008 to June 2009.

According to the study, Uruguay currently has 280,520 broadband connections. Broadband connection penetration reached 8.5 % per 100 inhabitants, which places Uruguay in second place in Latin America, preceded only by Argentina and Chile which have a penetration of 8.8% each. The constant increase in broadband in the country is due to the development of high-speed connections in the home segment, as well as by the impact of the "CEIBAL" plan of the Uruguayan government.

Cisco's Broadband Barometer performs an analysis of the evolution of broadband, both fixed and mobile and publishes the results to generate debate with regard to the best public-private practices. The goal is to promote the development of connectivity technologies as key elements for a country's socio-economic improvement.
Key Findings:

* The results obtained in Uruguay for the first half of 2009 were announced in this edition of Cisco's Broadband Barometer.
* According to the analysis of the first half of 2009 by market segment, home connectivity represents 87.2% of total broadband connections, and the business segment represents 12.8%.
* There is still a concentration of speeds between 256 and 512 Kbps. Speeds of 1Mbps or greater represent 13.8% of the market and will continue to rise. This trend was also presented in the Cisco Visual Networking Index study, which predicts an increase in Internet traffic between 2009 and 2012, attributed mainly to video.
* Even though broadband penetration in Uruguay is significant (8.5% per 100 inhabitants) in comparison with that of other Latin American countries, there is still a big divide between developed and emerging countries.
* The increase in connections in the country benefited from the "CEIBAL" plan, an initiative designed by the presidency of Uruguay, that aims to provide a laptop to each public school teacher and student. Focused on interior regions of the country, the plan reached a penetration of 174,876 users in 2009, which represents a 5.3% of the Uruguayan population. During the first half of 2008, the growth in connections in schools participating in the plan was 9.8%.
* The mobile broadband market in Uruguay, grew approximately of 208% in the first six months of 2009, with an important concentration in the consumer segment. Per region distribution, Montevideo represents 54% of mobile connections and the rest of the country represents 46%.
* The distribution of mobile broadband connections per market segment reveals the dominance of the home segment over the business segment, with the former having 76% and the latter 24%.
* The Broadband Barometer is an initiative created by Cisco and developed jointly with IDC, a research firm in charge of collecting the information.

Broadband Connections Grew 31% in Uruguay During the Last Year
Investments in Technological Infrastructure and Impact of "CEIBAL" Education Plan Stimulate Demand