Venezuela’s telecommunications sector continues reporting significant growth through the second trimester of 2010, according to statistics published by the National Commission on Telecommunications (CONATEL).
The number of subscribers to Internet providers grew 43.16 percent from 2009 to 2010, increasing by 2.4 million during the period.
CONATEL estimates that there are 9.7 million Venezuelans that have access to the Internet, a number that increased 22.90 percent from 2009 to 2010. As such, 34 of every 100 Venezuelans access the Internet through either wired or wireless means.
In Venezuela, access to and use of the Internet is an issue of national interest. Info-Centers, publicly accessible spaces equipped with computers connected to the Internet, are one of the accomplishments of the Venezuelan government in the area of technology. By March 2010, 668 Info-Centers had been created throughout the country.
With respect to mobile phones, CONATEL reported a growth of 1.2 percent from 2009 to 2010. Over the last 12 months, 326,000 new mobile phone subscribers were registered, bringing to 28.2 million the total number of active mobile phone lines in Venezuela.
For every 100 Venezuelans, CONATEL estimates that there exist 95 mobile phone lines in the country.
Additionally, during the same period over 18 million text messages were sent from mobile phones, an average of 7.4 messages a day per user. Of those messages, 55 percent were within the same network, while 44 percent went from one network to another.
With regards to landlines, CONATEL estimates that 367,000 new subscribers were added, bringing to seven million the total number of fixed landlines in Venezuela. That figure represents an increase of 5.5 percent as compared to the same time in 2008.
It is estimated that there are approximately 24 landline subscribers for every 100 Venezuelans.
The nationalization of telecommunications company CANTV has generated a number of accomplishments throughout the country, said recently Franco Silva, the company’s president. “I don’t think that in any country has landline service grown in recent years, as it has in Venezuela,” he said.
Press Office – Venezuelan Embassy to the U.S./ August 26, 2010.
