Chile may have total cellphone penetration by 2010 http://www.reuters.com/article/technology-media-telco-SP/idUSN0934503120070409
Mon Apr 9, 2007
By Monica Vargas
SANTIAGO, April 9 (Reuters) - By 2010 just about every Chilean who knows how to use a mobile phone will own one, according to analysts who expect service providers to aggressively target market niches to boost their client base.
The number of cellphones in Chile rose more than 14 percent in 2006 compared with the year-earlier period to 12.8 million, which suggests nearly eight of every 10 Chileans had a mobile phone by the end of last year, official data shows. "Considering that, according to the data reported by companies, Chile has penetration of 79.1 percent, we expect 100 percent penetration by 2010, growing at an average annual rate of 7.2 percent per year in the 2007-2010 period," said Francisco Errandonea, an analyst with Santander Investment.
Chile's mobile telephone market is led by Movistar, a unit of Spain's Telefonica (TEF.MC: Quote, Profile, Research), which closed 2006 with 5.5 million clients.
The next biggest competitors is Entel PCS, owned by Entel SA (ENT.SN: Quote, Profile, Research) and which has a little over 5 million clients, followed by Claro, owned by the Mexican cellphone giant America Movil SA (AMXL.MX: Quote, Profile, Research), with more than 2 million clients.
With the user market mature, mobile phone companies are marketing products to specific niches, such as children or lovers of extreme sports. "This year, there will be a lot of competition as companies seek growth niches, pods of potential, because it looks like much of the sector is already saturated," said Cristina Acle, an analyst with the LarrainVial brokerage.
SLOWER GROWTH
Chile has seen explosive growth in mobile telephony in recent years, when it also experienced a booming economy. In 2000, there were only about 3 million users, zooming up to 10.4 million in 2005 and 12.8 million last year.
In coming years, analysts said growth will slow and competition will be more intense for new cellphone users, but they all agreed the vast majority of Chile's 16 million inhabitants will have mobile phones.
Entel PCS sees Chile mobile telephony penetration hitting 100 percent by 2009. Movistar says penetration will be about 90 percent by the end of 2007. "Our projections of when 100 percent will be reached is for between 2009 and 2011," said Hugo Avendano, an analyst with Banchile Investments. "However, given the velocity of growth in the industry, that could happen in the earlier part of that range."
((Reporting by Monica Vargas, writing by Pav Jordan; editing by Andre Grenon; Reuters Messaging: monica.vargas.reuters.com at reuters.net; e-mail: santiago.newsroom at reuters.com))
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