“Brazil’s economic growth is driving consumption across most sectors as consumers have more money to spend, so this rise is not so surprising,” said Roberto Vazquez Ferrero, Managing Director of the telecom practice at Nielsen Latin America.
Internet penetration in Colombia was up five points to 29% while in Mexico, it rose three points to 24%.
Televisions are now ubiquitous in the four countries, with 98% of homes owning them. Colombia is far-and-away the leader when it comes to cable TV – 81% of households have subscriptions. Half (51%) of Chilean households subscribe to cable. Meanwhile, just one-quarter of Brazilian homes and one-third of Mexican homes have cable.
“The main barrier to cable penetration is the cost of service. I would expect cable penetration to rise in Brazil in the near term. In Mexico, there are many cable operators with differing services. As they package them in ways that combine TV and Internet, such as the double and triple play packages, we could see greater penetration as competition leads to lower prices,” said Vazquez.![]()
