BUENOS AIRES, Argentina, May 21, 2009 – Cisco today announced the 7th edition of the Cisco Broadband Barometer, which shows 35.4 percent growth in broadband internet connections in Argentina in 2008. This continued market growth can be attributed to new investments in 3G networks that complement the supply in big cities and extend their presence in medium and small cities.  The report also highlights growth in the use of rich-media video applications in fixed networks. 

Mobile Broadband also registered strong growth of 50.4 percent during the second half of 2008, demonstrating that this type of access is becoming popular in Argentina.

Fixed broadband accounts for almost 3.50 million connections, a 15.3 percent increase from the previous edition of the Barometer (June 2008) and 35.4 percent in the year-over-year comparison.

The penetration of broadband connections per 100 inhabitants reached 8.8 percent in December 2008, compared to 7.8 percent from the previous Barometer edition; positioning the country in the first place of Latin America in broadband penetration with Chile. Uruguay is in the second place with 7.6 percent. Even though the growth was significant, compare to Korea with 31 percent there is a big gap between developed countries and emerging ones.

The increase in the use of rich media applications in the country also contributed to growth in demand for 1 Mbps to 1.99 Mbps connection subscriptions and the 'above 2 Mbps' category – which together account for 47.3 percent of the market. However, lower speeds (128 Kbps to 512 Kbps) showed a decrease in demand. This trend is also presented in the series of Cisco Visual Networking Index studies, which predicts a six fold increase in Internet traffic between 2007 and 2012, attributable mainly to video-based social networking.

By December 2008, 1.5 million connections were needed to reach the goal of 5 million connections by 2010 in the country. The first edition of the Cisco Broadband Barometer set the goal of 4 million connections for 2010. With the launch of mobile broadband, this goal was revised in 2008 with the reporting outlining a new target of 5 million connections by 2010.

"The success of mobile broadband and the demand for new wireless connection offerings illustrate that the market is clearly expanding, even in this challenging environment," said Horacio Werner, country manager for Cisco Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay. "The rapid growth confirms the strong demand for broadband and demonstrates that the launch of new broadband offers and new types of connection, such as WiMAX, have the potential be well received in the market. Increasing broadband penetration is critical for Argentina to accelerate economic growth, strengthen its competitiveness, and create business opportunities and new jobs in the information economy."

"The most important steps government and business leaders in developing nations can take to encourage economic growth and global prosperity is to concentrate -- collectively and collaboratively -- on longer-term opportunities like universal broadband access in order to raise the quality of life and our economic prosperity for generations to come," added Werner.

Other Key Findings:

• In the analysis by market segment, home connectivity representing 94 percent of the fixed connection total, while businesses account for 6 percent.
• The distribution of mobile connections per market segment reveals the dominance of "residential" over "business" connectivity.  The former accounts for 76 percent of connections, while the latter accounts for 24 percent.
• As for the distribution per region, the province of Buenos Aires represents 55 percent of all mobile connections and 45 percent in the rest of the country.
• The distribution of fixed connections per download speed grew in the '1 Mbps to 1.99 Mbps' category. It went from 45 percent of the total connections in June 2008 to 47.3 percent in December of the same year, due to new offers by the service providers.

The Cisco Broadband Barometer

Sponsored by Cisco and conducted by IDC Argentina (www.idc.com), the Cisco Broadband Barometer is published every six months, with the goal of measuring the evolution of the Argentinean broadband market. As part of the vision of promoting the growth of broadband service in Argentina, Cisco proposed the goal of 5 million high-speed connections by 2010 to foster the country's economic development and increase its competitiveness and productivity.

For the 7th edition of the Barometer, Argentinean's main Internet service providers (ISPs) were interviewed. The evaluation is the result of a primary survey with specialized analysts, broad experience in the local telecommunications market, and a secondary survey involving official statistics, regulation agencies and specialized media.

The Barometer methodology considers dedicated IP, ADSL, cable modem, fixed wireless and satellite as fixed broadband connections, while mobile includes the access packages sold for PCs and not 3G telephones.