Latin America And The Caribbean has over 12% Of The World’s Mobile Users

Mobile phone penetration in Latin America and the Caribbean reached an estimated 80% in early 2009, well above the world average which was about 58% and with 458 million people owning a mobile phone globally, Latin America and the Caribbean together now accounts for an estimated 12% of the world’s 3.97 billion mobile subscribers. This according to a report from BuddeComm a telecom research firm based in Australia.

The report said too, that several countries, including Argentina, Jamaica, Uruguay, and Venezuela have passed the 100% penetration threshold and that the region has become fertile soil for 3G W-CDMA services, with over 5 million 3G subscribers throughout Latin America and the Caribbean as of early 2009.

The BuddeComm report went on to also illustrate the variances in mobile development throughout the region. It stated that apart from some first-world Caribbean island nations, the highest mobile penetration rates in early 2009 could be found in Jamaica (115%), Argentina (110%), Uruguay (109%), and Venezuela (101%). By contrast, penetration was much lower in Bolivia (48%), Costa Rica (48%), and Nicaragua (52%). Cuba, the country with the region’s lowest mobile penetration, stagnated at 2.9%. Penetration in Haiti, the second lowest country, shot up from a 4.8% at end-2005 to 41% at end-2008 thanks to the launch of low-priced GSM services by Caribbean mobile giant Digicel, which entered the Haitian market in May 2006.
source: BuddeComm Report.