The Mobile Economy Latin America and the Caribbean 2018

By mid-2018, there were 442 million unique mobile subscribers across Latin America and the Caribbean, accounting for 68% of the population. The region is characterised by varying levels of mobile subscriber penetration. A number of countries (such as Chile, Uruguay and Argentina) are approaching saturation of the total addressable market, while others (including Honduras, Guatemala and Nicaragua) still exhibit relatively low levels of penetration.

Despite slowing mobile subscriber growth in recent years, Latin America and the Caribbean still has substantial room for growth. The region will account for 10% of all new subscribers globally out to 2025. Material increases in subscriber numbers will be delivered by major markets including Brazil, Mexico and Colombia, which have penetration levels close to the regional average. By 2025, around three quarters of the region’s population will subscribe to mobile services, closing the gap on the average for developed markets.

The mobile ecosystem in Latin America continues to thrive and is experiencing rapid innovation, driven by growth in new technologies, services and use cases. Mobile operators across the region are contributing significantly to the Internet of Things (IoT) market. The widespread availability and increasing adoption of mobile services in Latin America has also spurred a paradigm shift in the creation, distribution and consumption of content in the region.