Keys to improve broadband in Argentina

We analyze the Argentinean development of broadband in collaboration with Agustina Aguirre and Mia Baccanelli. The Internet and the use of broadband connections are accelerating the global digital transformation process. Nowadays, having a good network connection is the key to maintain the user interrelated with the world. The broadband not only made a radical change in the way humans communicate but also facilitated the access to new content in a more rapid way. Moreover, better services were created and employment was developed.

 

The massification of broadband services in Argentina has increased throughout the years. In 2013, the service was slow compared to other border countries such as Chile and Brazil. Nowadays, broadband has increased significantly. The government is expecting to develop a better relationship between quality and speed, universalize the digital inclusion, amplify the internet connection throughout the country, boost regional economies and create quality work. Actual government is looking forward to taking action on the plan in 2018.

Back in 2013, the penetration of the network in homes and workplaces had risen but the speed of the broadband wasn’t as fast as population expected. The population at that time had amplified the use of computers, smartphones, tablets and smart TVs. This implied a higher demand on the Internet, as well a pressure of users towards the Internet companies. While in the country there were 0.71 devices that had an advantage of broadband greater than 2 Mbps, in Brazil the number was almost double (1.39) and in Chile it tripled (2.2). However, according to the Barómetro Cisco de Banda Ancha 2.0, the number of connections of medium and high speed grew on 9.9% in the last months of 2013. 

Following, in 2014 the average of broadband in Argentina was 4 Mbps compared to the global speed that used to be 16 Mbps. Taking into account the annual report of the Federal Telecommunications Commission of America, United States had an average of 21,12 Mbps in comparison to 15,6 Mbps of the past year. It seems clear that Argentina was delayed in broadband terms. 

In terms of global mobile connections, in 2014 Cisco recorded that mobile phone traffic represented 4 percent of IP traffic, followed by Wi-Fi with 42 percent and fixed broadband access with 54 percent.

The next year, due to the demand for videos on Internet, the velocity of broadband grew. Several studies showed that the increase in average speed would be from 4,4 Mbps to 15 Mbps in the following 5 years. These studies made by Cisco showed that the increase was going to be pushed by streaming and HD transmission. We estimate that it would reach the 77 percent of the total traffic by 2019.

Despite the growth expected for Argentina, the figures were far from the numbers recorded in the Cisco Visual Networking Index report globally. The average speed of fixed broadband worldwide was 20.3 Mbps in 2014, and it was expected to reach 42.5 Mbps in 2019. As a reference, both Western Europe and the Asia Pacific region led the ranking of faster-fixed broadband connections.

As a reference, the report of the International Telecommunications Union indicated that 8 of the 10 countries with the fastest broadband came from Western Europe, in a list led by South Korea.

In Argentina, electronic commerce, also known as eCommerce, grew by 61.7% in 2016 compared to the previous year, according to the annual survey conducted by the Argentine Chamber of Electronic Commerce. According to the results of the study e-commerce in 2016 sales reached 40,100 million pesos (excluding VAT), 36,300 million in the form of business to consumer (Business to consumer or B2C) and 3,800 million in transactions between consumers (Consumer to consumer or C2C).

E-Commerce has increased significantly throughout the years because of the continuous increase of Internet users in the country. There were 7,6 million users in 2004 and 32,2 million users by the end of 2016.

The National Communications Agency is a self-sufficient and decentralized body that works within the Ministry of Communications. It exposed that in 2016 the Internet penetration rate at the national level was 16.58 per 100 inhabitants and that the penetration rate increased to 4.83.

In addition, on the last two years in Argentina 1 out of 3 companies had implemented Mobile Commerce. The use of social networks for online promotion has also grown exponentially, reaching 90%. Additionally, social networks for online sales have grown to 43%.Despite the exponential growth it is important to take into account that is has been uneven with respect to the possibilities of access in the different regions of the country. This affects three fundamental factors of this service that are quality, price, and competence of the service.

Reinforcing this fact, according to official data, the Province of Buenos Aires has 3,191,569 fixed Internet accesses, and the City of Buenos Aires 1,336,842, concentrating the 44.2% and 18.5%, respect to the total accesses of national level.

The following image shows a map of the red connection within Argentina in April 2017. It represents 207 connected localities, 20,000 km of illuminated red and a population of 10 million people.

As it was mentioned before the government actually launched the Federal Internet Plan. The aim is promoting access to the quality Internet in all corners of the country, shortening the development gap and opportunities between large urban centers and towns. The principal benefits are the digital inclusion for those who cannot now access to a quality connection.

What do you think about the government's plan? Leave us your comment in the comment section.

Despite having made a significant and increasing progress in broadband, Argentina has still a long way to go while compared to other border countries. Internet means global inclusion and having access to it should be guaranteed to everyone. The main reason why the actual government is taking action to the provision throughout the federal plan was mentioned before. The lack of resources and the constant fluctuating economy reflects Argentina´s difficulty to keep up with the first world achievements not only in broadband terms but also in some other issues such as transport, health and education.

We analyze international broadband evolution (here, the Argentinean case) in this blog, in Research Group about Digital Journalism and Marketing and Broadband and in Research Group on Innovative Monetization Systems of Digital Journalism, Marketing and Tourism (SIMPED), from CECABLE,  Escola Universitària Mediterrani of UdG, UPF and Blanquerna-URL, in Twitter (@CECABLEresearch), Google+, in the group of LinkedIn, in the page of LinkedIn, in the group of Facebook, in Instagram (CECABLE), in Pinterest and in this blog. We will go in deep in the XXIII Cable and Broadband Catalonia Congress (10-11 April 2018, Barcelona).