The statistical series provided by the Undersecretariat of Telecommunications reveal that the growth of fiber optic connections of 62% exceeds the average of the OECD member countries, which is 13.5%. 40.9% of all fixed connections are through fiber optics. Subtel attributes this achievement to the public-private investments that allowed doubling the kilometers of fiber optic available nationwide, from 18,000 to 36,000 km between Fibra Óptica Nacional and Fibra Óptica Austral.
There was also a 10.3% increase in fixed internet accesses, which reached 3.79 million as of December 2020, highlighting the growth of residential connections with 12.5%, which represented the largest annual increase since 2009 Commercial fixed connections registered a drop of 6.5%.
Mobile Internet grew 37.6% between 2019 and 2020. 3G + 4G mobile accesses reached 20.5 million, with a growth of 8.1% in the last 12 months, that is, 1,532,040 new accesses. 4G connections represent 90.4% of mobile internet accesses, with 18.5 million connections.
In mobile telephony, the growth trend of contract subscribers continues, reaching 14.9 million numbers as of December 2020, obtaining an increase of 11.3% compared to the 13.4 million registered in 2019. Prepaid subscribers, on the other hand, registered 10.1 million numbers, thus decreasing 12.9% compared to the 11.6 million recorded in 2019.
Fixed telephony continued its downward trend since 2016. As of December 2020, lines decreased by 6.6% in the last 12 months.
Pay television registered an increase of 1.4%, reaching a penetration of 16.7 subscribers per 100 inhabitants and 57.8% of households.
In Chile there are 55.2 million telecommunications services as of December 2020, a figure higher than the 54 million in 2019.