Mike Dano | January 19, 2026

Analyzing the Uplink in the Age of AI

Emerging AI technologies could put an increased focus on mobile users’ upload connections and capabilities.

Most mobile users today are mostly concerned with surfing the web, watching videos and checking social media – all tasks that center on their phone’s ability to pull data down from the internet.

But this may change as AI sails into the mainstream. Already services like ChatGPT can analyze users’ uploaded pictures. And some smart glasses hint at a future where AI could provide real-time insights into an uninterrupted, uploaded live stream of users’ daily activities.

This kind of future could put new demands on mobile networks. Thus, it’s worth looking at how mobile network operators globally have managed their uplink connections to date, in the shadow of this possible AI future.

Key takeaways:

Of the 17 major operators analyzed in Ookla Speedtest Intelligence^® data, U.S. providers allocated the smallest percentage of capacity to users’ uplink connections. Chinese operators allocated the largest percentage.
Mobile upload speeds have been rising globally from 2021 to 2025, thanks to the release of additional spectrum and a variety of technological advances. But operators have not been increasing the percent of network capacity allocated to uplink connections during this period. Some have been reducing that percentage.
According to Ookla RootMetrics® drive test data for the U.S. market, T-Mobile, AT&T, and Verizon all allocated 20% of their Time Division Duplex (TDD) midband network “slots” to uplink connections in the second half of 2025. TDD is widely used among 5G network operators to determine the ratio between uplink and downlink resources in midband spectrum.
Future AI technologies could create new networking demands. For example, widespread adoption of smart glasses – those that upload users’ live views for AI analysis – may create a multitude of lengthy, continuous video streams that could pose difficulties for bandwidth-constrained uplink connections. At the same time, however, there are plenty of unknowns in this emerging space. For example, will most future AI requests be answered by software running inside of users’ phones, thus eliminating the need for a network connection entirely?

Anticipating the effect of AI on the network

Meta’s newest smart glasses allow users to receive an AI analysis of what they see. Google’s Gemini Live provides a similar service. These types of offerings hint at a new paradigm of computing that could eventually stream users’ live video feeds directly to an AI analysis bot. This constant visual data stream could even allow AI to proactively understand a user’s context in real-time and offer immediate, situation-specific assistance, without being prompted.

Real-world scenarios using this type of technology abound. For example, as a user looks at a broken appliance, an AI bot could identify the specific model, access repair manuals, and highlight exactly which component needs attention via audio and visual cues. It could provide instant translation of foreign street signs as a user walks past them, or it could offer nutritional analysis of food via a glance at a menu.

If these kinds of services become popular, high levels of uplink traffic could put additional demand on mobile networks globally. Already 5G equipment vendor Ericsson has speculated on what this AI future might mean for mobile network operators. “The uplink traffic will increase significantly over the coming years and, indeed, is becoming telecom’s new ‘currency,’” the company wrote. “This potential growth of uplink traffic underlines the importance of network capacity planning, spectrum allocation, and RAN [radio access network] feature developments.”

Ericsson isn’t alone. “AI changes how traffic is generated, where it flows and when it peaks. It increases uplink use in the home, it injects automation and machine vision into industrial sites, and it multiplies east–west movement between data centers,” Nokia wrote in its own report on future mobile traffic, including from AI.

And in a new report, the GSMA trade association offered three different scenarios for future growth of traffic on mobile networks globally. “In the low-growth scenario, the downlink remains predominant at around 85% of total traffic, with uplink at 15%,” the firm wrote. “However, in the medium- and high-growth scenarios, the share of uplink increases to around 25% and 35%, respectively, by 2040.” The reason? AI.

But such predictions are just that: forecasts that may – or may not – come true. There is still much uncertainty regarding the parameters and the extent of AI traffic on a wireless network. For example, it’s not clear how much AI processing will ultimately be conducted on users’ devices and how much will need to be routed through a network connection to a cloud-based computing service. This question is central to forecasting AI’s eventual networking demands.

Another unknown involves the speed at which AI requests will need to be answered. This topic sits in the realm of latency – the time it takes for a cloud-based service to respond to a request from a user – and it too will have serious implications for eventual AI networking designs.

Yet another unknown involves the extent to which 5G will play a role in an AI future. How many AI requests will be routed through wired and Wi-Fi connections? Will those types of non-cellular networking connections be pervasive enough to reduce any possible AI strain on a 5G operator’s network?

Such questions go on and on: Will newer video compression technologies ease upload bandwidth demands? Will technological advancements – such as those from new 5G-Advanced standards – make wireless networks even more speedy and efficient?

With all that said, now is the time for 5G operators to begin considering how AI might affect the usage of their networks. For years now, mobile users globally have been sucking down movies and memes on the downlink. But AI may flip that: It will need eyes and ears to work, and that could translate into massive streams of data flowing up from users to the internet.

Operators gauge uplink capacity allocations

Frequency Division Duplexing (FDD) was used widely in previous generations of cellular technology, including 4G LTE, to determine the amount of capacity allocated to users’ uplink connections. FDD divides users’ uplink and downlink connections into two dedicated, separate channels. Think of FDD traffic as lanes on a highway separated by a concrete barrier: One lane is permanently dedicated to uplink traffic, and the other is permanently dedicated to downlink traffic. This setup worked well for initial networking priorities focused on voice and coverage in spectrum allocations between 5 MHz and 20 MHz.

But FDD doesn’t cut it in the age of 5G. Operators need speedy, efficient and flexible data connections, particularly when they’re dealing with chunks of midband spectrum that can range up to 100 MHz or higher.

“To increase flexibility as well as make spectrum usage more efficient, Time Division Duplex (TDD) is becoming increasingly common and important,” noted the GSMA global trade association.

As a result, many of today’s midband 5G networks use TDD. For example, according to Ookla’s RootMetrics drive testing data in the U.S., a large portion of T-Mobile’s 5G samples used TDD technology. Specifically, around 93% of T-Mobile’s downlink samples used standalone (SA) 5G in the second half of 2025. Of that 93%, 78.6% used TDD and the rest (14.4%) used FDD.

TDD essentially uses a single “lane” for data traffic in both directions, upstream and downstream, but it rapidly switches the direction of the flow of traffic thousands of times per second. By adjusting the timing of this “traffic light,” an operator can decide to keep the light green for downloads for 80% of the time and only switch to uploads for 20% of the time, for example.

While dynamic TDD allocations may be possible – where an operator adjusts its traffic light in real time to meet a sudden surge in users’ uplink demands – most operators stick to static, synchronized patterns to maintain network stability and prevent interference.

Upload capacity varies by operator and geography

Since operators have some control over the network resources they allocate to uplink connections versus downlink connections, it’s worth looking at how some of the biggest operators in the world handle this decision.

To do so, we used the relationship between upload and download speeds as a basic proxy for carriers’ allocation of networking resources toward uplink and downlink capacity. (This is separate from Ookla’s Speed Score® that incorporates download speeds, upload speeds, and latency).

To be clear, upload and download speeds are a product of operators’ network capacity decisions, but they can be affected by a wide variety of factors including operators’ spectrum holdings and the capabilities of users’ phones. Nonetheless, this study of operators’ upload and download speeds helps to shine a light into their capacity priorities within the parameters of what they can control.

The below findings are from Ookla Speedtest Intelligence data. They show the percent of networking capacity dedicated to operators’ uplink connections, which we calculated by dividing aggregated upload speeds by the sum of operators’ aggregated download and upload speeds. We only used the top 10% fastest 5G download samples (using both FDD and TDD) in order to obtain a clearer view into operators’ networking designs, one that’s unimpeded by connections potentially suffering from interference, network congestion, or other issues.

Network Resources Allocated to Uplink Connections
Speedtest Intelligence | 2025

Of the operators studied, it’s clear that Chinese wireless network operators like China Telecom and China Unicom likely allocate a larger portion of their network capacity to users’ uplink connections

On the other end of the chart, U.S. operators like Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile likely allocate a smaller portion of their network capacity to users’ uplink connections.

It’s also worth noting that overall spectrum ownership doesn’t appear to affect operators’ approaches to uplink capacity. For example, according to the GSMA’s Spectrum Navigator, Vodafone holds the most overall midband and lowband spectrum (526 MHz) of the 17 operators studied. China Telecom sits in the middle of the pack with 220 MHz of midband and lowband spectrum. And AT&T sits near the bottom with 172 MHz.

The ratio between uplinks and downlinks could reflect a wide range of factors such as differences in customers’ usage patterns, device capabilities, local competition among operators for the title of fastest provider, network vendor capabilities, and other parameters. Indeed, some Asian network operators have been highlighting service plans that focus on uplink performance as a way to entice livestreamers.

That focus on the uplink could expand to other markets. Uplink is “one of most under-talked topics of the industry,” T-Mobile Chief Network Officer Ankur Kapoor recently told Fierce Network.

As speeds rise, downlinks dominate

Most users around the world are enjoying faster uplink speeds than ever before. For example, overall mobile upload speeds in the U.K. increased by around 36% between 2021 and 2025, according to Ookla Speedtest Intelligence data for the market’s 10% fastest connections across all mobile technologies. In the U.S., that figure is around 40%. Other leading 5G markets have seen similar improvements.

This uplift can be traced to a wide variety of factors ranging from additional spectrum allocations (more spectrum typically results in faster speeds) to technological innovations like carrier aggregation (which can speed up connections by “glueing” together transmissions in different spectrum bands) and MIMO antennas (which can transmit and receive simultaneous data streams).

But there are also plenty of caveats. Yes, mobile upload speeds have been rising globally, but that’s mainly because 5G enables faster overall connections, both on the uplink and the downlink. In some countries, like Brazil, the percentage of network capacity allocated to upload speeds has been falling. In other countries, like China, the capacity allocated to the uplink has been holding relatively steady. In no country in this study is the percentage of capacity allocated to the uplink rising in a significant way.

Percent Capacity Allocated to Upload
Speedtest Intelligence | 2021 – 2025

The data reveals a clear trend: as mobile network technologies mature and meet baseline user needs for upload capacity, operator focus pivots toward driving ever-faster download speeds. Indeed, overall mobile download speeds in the U.K. increased by around 58% between 2021 and 2025, according to Ookla Speedtest Intelligence data for the market’s 10% fastest connections across all mobile technologies. In the U.S., that figure is around 251%.

Thus, while uplink performance is improving, the proportional importance of download capacity continues to dominate operator investment and network configuration choices.

Here too are caveats. Network operators can tweak their networks in different ways for different locations. For example, venues like sports stadiums or concert halls may feature network settings and equipment tuned in ways that aid fans’ uplink connections.

Another important caveat: Nationwide standards for TDD connections designed to prevent interference. As explained by the GSMA, all the operators in a given geographic area that use 5G TDD in spectrum bands like 3.5 GHz must synchronize their network “clock” and frame structure so that all their users transmit and receive data at the exact same times. This helps prevent interference and avoids large, inefficient physical separation zones between networks. This may explain the similarities in uplink percentages among operators in the same geographic markets in recent years.

RootMetrics highlights operators’ uplink settings

Aggregated Speedtest results are one way to gain a view into operators’ uplink calculations. Another, more exacting method is via RootMetrics drive test results. Such tests – using flagship, off-the-shelf Android smartphones – provide a deeper look into operators’ network settings via 11 million total tests conducted annually. RootMetrics administers controlled, nationwide testing in the U.S. and elsewhere.

A sampling of RootMetrics’ insights into uplink connections: Roughly 79% of T-Mobile’s uplink sample tests in the second half of 2025 traveled over the operator’s 2.5 GHz midband spectrum holdings. And just over one-third of those samples used two-carrier aggregation technology. By aggregating multiple carriers on the uplink and downlink, operators can increase users’ overall speeds.

More importantly, RootMetrics data can offer a closer look at the uplink settings deployed by U.S. wireless network operators. For example, it can show the number of network “slots” allocated to uplink connections. In TDD networks, “slots” are the specific time intervals – typically measured in milliseconds – within a transmission frame that are designated for either sending data (downlink) or receiving data (uplink).

According to RootMetrics U.S. data, T-Mobile, AT&T, and Verizon all allocated 20% of their TDD midband network “slots” to uplink connections in the second half of 2025. However, the operators’ median upload speeds during that period showed some variation:

U.S. Median Upload Speeds
RootMetrics | 2H 2025

There are a variety of reasons behind these results. For example, T-Mobile was an early mover to 5G standalone (SA) technology, which generally supports speedier connections than non-standalone (NSA) architecture. Furthermore, T-Mobile’s midband 5G network sits in 2.5 GHz spectrum, whereas Verizon’s uses C-band and AT&T uses both 3.45 GHz and C-band. And the operators also apply different levels of carrier aggregation to their uplink connections.

That last item – carrier aggregation – can have clear impacts on users’ uplink speeds. For example, the Samsung Galaxy S24 and S25 Ultra smartphones are endowed with carrier aggregation technology for uplink connections. Such technology binds two bands of spectrum together to improve network capacity and upload speed. T-Mobile in 2024 enabled two-carrier aggregation for uplink connections on its 5G SA network. The result of this deployment can be seen within Speedtest data:

Upload Speeds Among T-Mobile's Top 10% Fastest 5G Samples
Speedtest Intelligence | Q4 2025

In RootMetrics’ testing in the fourth quarter of 2025, roughly 37.8% of T-Mobile’s 5G SA samples in its 2.5 GHz spectrum used two-carrier aggregation technology.

Ookla analyst Kerry Baker contributed to this article.

Ookla retains ownership of this article including all of the intellectual property rights, data, content graphs and analysis. This article may not be quoted, reproduced, distributed or published for any commercial purpose without prior consent. Members of the press and others using the findings in this article for non-commercial purposes are welcome to publicly share and link to report information with attribution to Ookla.

About the author

Mike Dano

Mike Dano is a Lead Industry Analyst in Ookla’s research and content team. He covers the North and South American markets, and global technology trends. Previously, Mike was a journalist covering the global telecom industry for 25 years at publications including RCR Wireless News, Fierce Network and Light Reading.

Ookla Research™ Articles

Mike Dano | January 12, 2026

5G in Latin America: Pockets of Progress

Some countries in the region show clear 5G advancements, while others haven’t yet made much forward movement.

Spanish/Español

More than five years after the technology first hit Latin America’s shores, 5G is now floating through many of the region’s countries. In some leading areas, 5G speeds are rising and 5G signals abound.

But Latin America’s steps into a 5G future have been uneven. In some countries – like Brazil – the technology has managed to spread far and wide, and download speeds have reached impressive milestones. Users’ satisfaction often tracks with these improvements. In other countries – like Mexico – the rollout of 5G has been a stutter-step affair, with some operators making progress while others fall behind. And in some countries, like Peru, 5G remains in its early days.

Still, there are some hints that advanced 5G services are now making their way into the Latin American region. 5G Standalone (SA) connections are beginning to pop up. 5G private wireless networks are multiplying. And 5G fixed wireless access (FWA) is paving a way for mobile network operators to move beyond the smartphone opportunity among consumers.

Key takeaways:

Brazil shows clear leadership in many 5G metrics. The country’s median 5G speeds reached 430.83 Mbps in the third quarter of 2025, according to Ookla Speedtest® data, the highest in the region. And 38.5% of the country’s 5G users spent a majority of their time connected to 5G networks, placing Brazil third in this metric, behind Uruguay and Puerto Rico (an unincorporated territory of the United States considered part of Latin America).
Not surprisingly, spectrum contributes directly to operators’ 5G performance. 5G providers with 100 MHz of spectrum in the 3.5 GHz band – such as Personal Argentina, Claro Brasil, and Vivo Brasil – generally offer 5G speeds above 300 Mbps.
There are some signals that more advanced technologies are on their way. In the third quarter of 2025, 5G SA connections showed up in Brazil (1.6% of all 5G connections) and Puerto Rico (41.1% of all 5G connections). Moreover, FWA is now available to a growing number of customers in countries like Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, and elsewhere. And 5G private wireless networks are beginning to pop up too.

The tangled history of 5G and Latin America

Uruguay’s state-owned operator Antel, along with vendor Nokia, claimed the first 5G network in Latin America in 2019, using short-range millimeter wave spectrum. The move reflected Uruguay’s ambition to be a technological leader in the region. At just 68,037 square miles, Uruguay is one of the smallest countries in Latin America, making extensive 5G networks there somewhat easier to deploy, at least from a geographic coverage perspective.

But Uruguay’s 5G efforts since then have been somewhat symbolic of the region’s wider struggles to deploy speedy 5G connections on a widespread basis. In 2025 – more than five years after its first foray into 5G – Antel deployed a total of 500 5G cell sites, each with 100 MHz worth of midband 3.5 GHz spectrum. This kind of spectrum supports the speedy, widespread connections often associated with 5G. It was released to Antel in 2023.

Perhaps Latin America’s biggest 5G launch came a year after Antel’s first 5G announcement, in 2020, when Brazil’s three big mobile network operators launched 5G with Dynamic Spectrum Sharing (DSS) technology. Like Antel in Uruguay, this launch too was mostly symbolic, considering DSS allows 5G signals to piggyback on existing 4G LTE spectrum. It generally doesn’t support the snappy speeds available through fat chunks of midband spectrum. Brazil’s real 5G inflection point occurred the following year, in 2021, when the country’s regulator released wide swathes of midband 3.5 GHz spectrum to operators.

Some of Mexico’s operators also stepped into 5G around this same time. For example, AT&T Mexico launched 5G services in the 2.5 GHz band in 2021. And América Móvil’s Telcel used its existing 3.5 GHz holdings for a 5G launch in 2022, eventually expanding the service to 125 cities and 10 million subscribers by 2025.

These launches helped unlock a wave of spectrum auction activity in other leading Latin American countries like Argentina and Colombia in 2023. Other markets continue to trail, however. For example, Costa Rica completed its own 3.5 GHz auction at the beginning of 2025, while Peru wrapped up its 3.5 GHz auction in September 2025.

Speedy connections, if you can get them

The results of all this 5G activity are now clear:

5G Speeds Across Latin America
Speedtest Intelligence | Q3 2025

Brazil’s performance was good enough to place it fourth globally in the latest issue of the Speedtest Global Index^TM for mobile performance, behind only the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, and Kuwait.

But commercial 5G launches don’t necessarily equate to widespread 5G connections. Ookla’s Speedtest Intelligence tracks 5G availability, which measures the percentage of 5G active users connected to 5G a majority of the time, based on when a 5G icon is displayed on their device.

Here’s how leading Latin American counties shake out in this ranking:

5G Availability Across Latin America
Speedtest Intelligence | Q3 2025

To put this into perspective, Canada’s overall 5G availability rating clocked in at 73.2% in the third quarter of 2025, while the U.S. sat at 75.2%.

These results are also noteworthy given the relative popularity of fiber networks in Latin American countries like Peru and Chile. Fiber typically supplies the internet piping that powers high-speed 5G cell sites.

To be clear, these broad 5G results in Latin America are due to a confluence of factors. First, operators must get access to suitable spectrum. For 5G, that typically involves large blocks of midband spectrum between 2.5 GHz and 4 GHz. Then, they must invest into the equipment and cell towers necessary to broadcast 5G signals across their spectrum license territories.

And then, of course, they must also sell enough 5G devices and service plans to make that investment worthwhile.

Measuring the importance of spectrum

Spectrum is often described as the “lifeblood” of the wireless industry, and certainly it’s a critical starting block to any successful 5G offering. In Latin America, it’s clear that some regulators not only share this view but have also put it into action.

For example, Brazil’s 2021 spectrum auction was notable in its scale. Major operators in the country – América Móvil’s Claro, TIM Brasil, and Telefônica Brasil’s Vivo – each acquired massive spectrum blocks (100 MHz per operator). Those fat chunks of spectrum – coupled with the speed that Brazil’s regulator, Anatel, free up the spectrum for commercial use – are main reasons why Brazil tops Speedtest charts for the Latin American region.

Other countries have made various efforts at matching Brazil’s lead. For example, Chile, Colombia, Argentina, and Peru have all aligned on the 3.5 GHz band for 5G. Specifically, Colombia’s 2023 auction released four blocks of spectrum in the 3.5 GHz band – each of them 80 MHz wide – to each of the country’s four operators. And Argentina’s 2023 auction released 100 MHz blocks to América Móvil’s Claro and Personal in the 3.3–3.6 GHz range.

This symmetry in spectrum and timing helps ensure economies of scale for 5G equipment across the region, particularly for operators with systems in multiple countries.

Broadly, these spectrum allocations – particularly the breadth of spectrum allocated to each operator – track directly to network performance:

Another important factor in this discussion of spectrum is the manner by which regulators free up spectrum for 5G operators. For example, Brazil’s 2021 auction wasn’t solely designed to funnel auction revenues into government coffers. Instead, Brazilian telecom regulator Anatel allowed auction winners to pay for a portion of their licenses through investment obligations. Meaning, operators can pay for their spectrum by deploying it. Regulators in other countries like Peru have employed a similar strategy, waiving a portion of operators’ annual spectrum fees for 5G deployments in rural or unserved areas.

Meanwhile, Mexico’s approach to spectrum allocation may stand as a cautionary tale. According to the GSMA, Mexico’s spectrum costs are established every year by the country’s Congress, and “this yearly approval process creates uncertainty, as it is impossible for mobile operators to anticipate how these fees will evolve,” the trade association wrote. Indeed, Telefónica’s Movistar in Mexico returned its spectrum holdings to regulators in 2022 in order to become an MVNO on AT&T Mexico’s network. More recently, Mexico’s telecom regulator cancelled a spectrum auction due to a lack of resources.

Broadly, the average amount of spectrum assigned to mobile network operators in Latin American countries increased by 51% between 2016 and 2024, from 267 MHz to 403 MHz, according to the GSMA. But that’s significantly less than the global average, which was 574 MHz in 2024.

Nonetheless, the situation is still developing. According to the GSMA, Paraguay and Peru were among the handful of countries that held spectrum auctions in the third quarter of 2025. And Bolivia, Ecuador, and Colombia are among the countries that have scheduled additional spectrum auctions in the future.

Of course, once regulators release spectrum, operators must then put it into action.

5G shows faster speeds, and faster speeds satisfy

América Móvil is Latin America’s regional 5G behemoth. But the company’s overall capital expenses (capex) have been slowing in recent years following significant spending on spectrum and network infrastructure. Specifically, América Móvil’s capex outlay reached $8.6 billion in 2023, but fell to $7 billion last year. For 2025, the company is on track to spend $6.7 billion.

That slowdown in spending coincides with Telefonica’s exit from many Latin American markets with 5G, due to its plans to focus on its “core” markets in Europe and Brazil.

Millicom, meanwhile, is the company positioned to replace Telefónica as the region’s second-largest telecom operator. Millicom invests over $1 billion annually in its fixed and mobile networks, according to one detailed report on the company’s operations. But that doesn’t necessarily mean Millicom plans to inject 5G into its growing Latin American mobile footprint. Millicom officials have suggested an emphasis on fiber and 4G, deploying 5G only at “the best time.”

There’s also the question of what 5G equipment operators ought to spend all their capex on. Here emerges the Huawei question: Should Latin American operators heed U.S. cybersecurity warnings about the use of gear from Chinese suppliers like Huawei? Many have not.

Despite intense political debate on the topic, Brazil did not ban Huawei as part of its early 5G auctions. Consequently, Huawei supplies significant portions of the 5G radio access network (RAN) for the country’s three big operators. Operators in Peru and Mexico also use equipment from Chinese vendors.

But Huawei doesn’t have a lock on the Latin American market. For example, Sweden’s Ericsson is the sole 5G supplier for Entel Chile. In Argentina, Telefónica’s Movistar selected Ericsson for its network modernization to 5G-ready standards. And América Móvil’s Claro in Colombia and Argentina, and TIM Brasil, selected Finland’s Nokia for broad 5G deployments.

Regardless, once operators pay for the equipment to put 5G to work, they often have some clear progress to show:

And faster speeds can also be traced to customers’ satisfaction. Speedtest Intelligence data in Mexico shows a correlation between swift connections and happy subscribers.

Still, offering faster speeds is just a first step. Operators must also package 5G connections in a way that’s attractive to potential customers. Here too there are signs of forward progress. For example, América Móvil’s Telcel in Mexico promotes 5G to its prepaid users – a nod to the fact that more than 80% of Mexican mobile users subscribe to prepaid plans. And América Móvil’s Claro in Brazil touts the speed of its 5G network in support of its deal with OpenAI to offer ChatGPT to its mobile customers.

As a result of such efforts, GSMA Intelligence predicts 5G will spread to 50% of all Latin American mobile connections by 2030, or 410 million people. That’s just below the 57% global average expected by the firm in that year.

SA, private wireless and FWA hint at the future

The “Non-Standalone” (NSA) version of 5G was released first, and it has been widely adopted on a global basis. However, the “Standalone,” or SA, iteration of 5G is sometimes referred to as the “true” version of 5G. That’s partly because 5G SA doesn’t rely on a 4G core network like the “Non-Standalone” (NSA) version of 5G does. SA also supports advanced services such as network slicing (a technology that can funnel select types of user traffic into speedier pipes).

In Latin America’s shift to SA, Brazil is a standout. According to Speedtest data, roughly 1.6% of all 5G samples in Brazil used 5G SA technology in the third quarter of 2025. Only Puerto Rico ranked higher, with 41.1% of 5G samples using 5G SA technology. That’s likely thanks to T-Mobile’s network in the country; T-Mobile made an early move to 5G SA technology throughout its U.S. operations.

According to GSMA Intelligence, Argentina, Colombia, and Costa Rica are the other Latin American countries with commercial SA networks. But those connections are not yet showing up in Speedtest sample sizes that are statistically relevant.

That said, FWA may be a more tangible service that hints at a future enabled by 5G technology. Fixed wireless allows 5G operators (those with suitable spectrum holdings and FWA-capable equipment) to provide broadband connections into users’ homes and offices. FWA can serve as an alternative to wired connections in remote or rural areas – or as a competitive response to other fixed internet providers.

GSMA Intelligence counts roughly a dozen Latin American countries with FWA services.

Again, Brazil looks the standout here. For example, Claro in Brazil launched its 5G+ FWA offering in 2023 with speeds up to 1 Gbps. The company’s plans cap customers’ monthly usage starting at 200 GB per month. Similarly, Telefônica Brasil’s Vivo launched its Box 5G in 2024 with a 150 GB per month cap.

And Brisanet, a regional challenger in Brazil, is aggressively pursuing 5G FWA with larger data caps. The company counted 37,000 FWA customers in its most recent quarter.

Other Latin American countries are seeing similar FWA outcroppings. América Móvil’s Claro in Colombia launched FWA in 2024 with a 160 GB monthly cap. In Mexico, AT&T’s Internet en Casa offers speeds of around 10 Mbps. And Personal in Argentina counts around 50,000 FWA users.

Yet another signal of the maturation of 5G in Latin America is the arrival of 5G private wireless networks, which can be used by enterprises for applications ranging from autonomous mining to oil refining to industrial manufacturing. These kinds of operations are increasingly popping up in countries including Brazil and Chile.

Regardless, the advancement of FWA, as well as 5G SA, private wireless networks, and other advanced technologies, show that some Latin American denizens are seeing the promise of 5G. This can be attributed to efficient and forward-looking regulators, significant financial commitments by some operators, and a desire among users for ever-faster connections.

But 5G is still in its early days across the full Latin American region, with many countries still lagging significantly in broad 5G rollouts. Spectrum costs – such as those in Mexico – contribute. So too do regulatory delays, such as those that have slowed spectrum auctions in places like Colombia. And that all can affect operator interest in 5G, as seen by Millicom’s intention to continue to leverage 4G until the time for 5G rolls around.

5G en América Latina: focos de evolución

Algunos países de la región muestran claros avances en 5G, mientras que otros aún no han logrado un gran progreso.

Más de cinco años después de que la tecnología llegara por primera vez a las costas de América Latina, el 5G está ahora presente en muchos países de la región. En algunas áreas líderes, las velocidades 5G están aumentando y las señales 5G abundan.

Pero los pasos de América Latina hacia un futuro 5G han sido desiguales. En algunos países, como Brasil, la tecnología ha logrado extenderse a lo largo y ancho de la geografía, y las velocidades de descarga han alcanzado hitos impresionantes. La satisfacción de los usuarios a menudo va a la par de estas mejoras. En otros países, como México, el despliegue del 5G ha sido un proceso a trompicones, con algunos operadores avanzando mientras que otros se quedan atrás. Y en países como Perú, el 5G sigue en sus primeras etapas.

Aun así, hay indicios de que los servicios avanzados de 5G están llegando a la región latinoamericana. Las conexiones 5G Standalone (SA) están comenzando a aparecer. Las redes privadas inalámbricas 5G se están multiplicando. Y el acceso inalámbrico fijo (FWA) 5G está abriendo un camino para que los operadores de redes móviles vayan más allá de la oportunidad del smartphone entre los consumidores.

Conclusiones clave:

Brasil muestra un claro liderazgo en muchas métricas de 5G. La velocidad mediana de 5G del país alcanzó los 430.83 Mbps en el tercer trimestre de 2025; según datos de Ookla Speedtest®, la más alta de la región. Y el 38.5% de los usuarios de 5G del país pasaron la mayor parte de su tiempo conectados a redes 5G, lo que sitúa a Brasil en tercer lugar en esta métrica, detrás de Uruguay y Puerto Rico.
Como era de esperar, el espectro contribuye directamente al rendimiento 5G de los operadores. Los proveedores de 5G con 100 MHz de espectro en la banda de 3.5 GHz, como Personal Argentina, Claro Brasil y Vivo Brasil, generalmente ofrecen velocidades 5G superiores a 300 Mbps.
Hay algunas señales de que tecnologías más avanzadas están en camino. En el tercer trimestre de 2025, las conexiones 5G SA aparecieron en Brasil (1.6% de todas las conexiones 5G) y Puerto Rico (41.1% de todas las conexiones 5G). Además, el FWA está ahora disponible para un número creciente de clientes en países como Brasil, Colombia, México y otros. Y las redes privadas inalámbricas 5G también están empezando a surgir.

La intrincada historia del 5G y América Latina

El operador estatal de Uruguay, Antel, junto con el proveedor Nokia, desplegó la primera red 5G en América Latina en 2019, utilizando espectro de onda milimétrica de corto alcance. La medida reflejó la ambición de Uruguay de ser un líder tecnológico en la región. Con solo 68,037 millas cuadradas, Uruguay es uno de los países más pequeños de América Latina, lo que hace que las redes 5G extensas sean algo más fáciles de implementar allí, al menos desde una perspectiva de cobertura geográfica.

Pero los esfuerzos de 5G de Uruguay desde entonces han sido algo simbólicos de las luchas más amplias de la región para desplegar conexiones 5G rápidas de forma generalizada. En 2025, más de cinco años después de su primera incursión en el 5G, Antel desplegó un total de 500 emplazamientos celulares 5G, cada uno con 100 MHz de espectro de banda media de 3.5 GHz. Este tipo de espectro es compatible con las conexiones rápidas y generalizadas a menudo asociadas con el 5G. Fue liberado a Antel en 2023.

Quizás el mayor lanzamiento de 5G en América Latina se produjo un año después del primer anuncio de 5G de Antel, en 2020, cuando los tres grandes operadores de redes móviles de Brasil lanzaron 5G con tecnología Dynamic Spectrum Sharing (DSS). Al igual que Antel en Uruguay, este lanzamiento también fue en su mayoría simbólico, considerando que el DSS permite que las señales 5G se monten en el espectro 4G LTE existente. Generalmente no es compatible con las velocidades rápidas disponibles a través de grandes porciones de espectro de banda media. El verdadero punto de inflexión del 5G en Brasil ocurrió al año siguiente, en 2021, cuando el regulador del país liberó amplias franjas de espectro de banda media de 3.5 GHz a los operadores.

Algunos de los operadores de México también se adentraron en el 5G en esta misma época. Por ejemplo, AT&T México lanzó servicios 5G en la banda de 2.5 GHz en 2021. Y Telcel de América Móvil utilizó sus tenencias existentes de 3.5 GHz para un lanzamiento de 5G en 2022, expandiendo finalmente el servicio a 125 ciudades y 10 millones de suscriptores para 2025.

Estos lanzamientos ayudaron a desbloquear una ola de actividad de subastas de espectro en otros países líderes de América Latina como Argentina y Colombia en 2023. Sin embargo, otros mercados continúan a la zaga. Por ejemplo, Costa Rica completó su propia subasta de 3.5 GHz a principios de 2025, mientras que Perú concluyó su subasta de 3.5 GHz en septiembre de 2025.

Conexiones rápidas, si las puedes conseguir

Los resultados de toda esta actividad 5G son ahora claros:

Velocidades 5G en toda Latinoamérica
Speedtest Intelligence | Q3 2025

El rendimiento de Brasil fue lo suficientemente bueno como para situar al país en cuarto lugar a nivel mundial en la última edición del Speedtest Global Index^TM en rendimiento móvil, solo por detrás de Emiratos Árabes Unidos, Catar y Kuwait.

Pero los lanzamientos comerciales de 5G no equivalen necesariamente a conexiones 5G generalizadas. Speedtest Intelligence de Ookla rastrea la disponibilidad de 5G, que mide el porcentaje de usuarios activos de 5G conectados a 5G la mayor parte del tiempo, basándose en el momento en que se muestra un icono de 5G en su dispositivo.

Así es como se clasifican los principales países de América Latina en este ranking:

Disponibilidad 5G en toda Latinoamérica
Speedtest Intelligence | Q3 2025

Para poner esto en perspectiva, la calificación general de disponibilidad de 5G de Canadá se situó en el 73.2% en el tercer trimestre de 2025, mientras que la de EE. UU. se situó en el 75.2%.

Estos resultados también son dignos de mención dada la popularidad relativa de las redes de fibra en países latinoamericanos como Perú y Chile. La fibra generalmente suministra la tubería de internet que alimenta los emplazamientos celulares 5G de alta velocidad.

Para ser claros, estos amplios resultados de 5G en América Latina se deben a una confluencia de factores. Primero, los operadores deben obtener acceso a un espectro adecuado. Para el 5G, generalmente implica grandes bloques de espectro de banda media entre 2.5 GHz y 4 GHz. Además, deben invertir en el equipo y las torres celulares necesarios para transmitir señales 5G a través de sus territorios de licencia de espectro.

Y luego, por supuesto, también deben vender suficientes dispositivos y planes de servicio 5G para que esa inversión valga la pena.

Midiendo la importancia del espectro

El espectro a menudo se describe como el “alma” de la industria inalámbrica y, ciertamente, es un bloque de partida crítico para cualquier oferta 5G exitosa. En América Latina, está claro que algunos reguladores no solo comparten esta opinión, sino que también la han puesto en acción.

Por ejemplo, la subasta de espectro de Brasil de 2021 fue notable en su escala. Los principales operadores del país —Claro de América Móvil, TIM Brasil y Vivo de Telefônica Brasil— adquirieron cada uno bloques masivos de espectro (100 MHz por operador). Esas grandes porciones de espectro, junto con la velocidad con la que el regulador de Brasil, Anatel, liberó el espectro para uso comercial, son las principales razones por las que Brasil encabeza las listas de Speedtest para la región latinoamericana.

Otros países han realizado diversos esfuerzos para igualar el liderazgo de Brasil. Por ejemplo, Chile, Colombia, Argentina y Perú se han alineado en la banda de 3.5 GHz para 5G. Específicamente, la subasta de Colombia de 2023 liberó cuatro bloques de espectro en la banda de 3.5 GHz —cada uno de 80 MHz de ancho— a cada uno de los cuatro operadores del país. Y la subasta de Argentina de 2023 liberó bloques de 100 MHz a Claro de América Móvil y Personal en el rango de 3.3 a 3.6 GHz.

Esta simetría en el espectro y el momento ayuda a garantizar economías de escala para los equipos 5G en toda la región, particularmente para los operadores con sistemas en múltiples países.

En términos generales, estas asignaciones de espectro, particularmente la amplitud del espectro asignado a cada operador, se correlacionan directamente con el rendimiento de la red:

Otro factor importante en esta discusión sobre el espectro es la forma en que los reguladores liberan el espectro para los operadores de 5G. Por ejemplo, la subasta de Brasil de 2021 no fue diseñada únicamente para canalizar los ingresos de la subasta a las arcas del gobierno. En cambio, el regulador de telecomunicaciones brasileño, Anatel, permitió a los ganadores de la subasta pagar una parte de sus licencias a través de obligaciones de inversión. Es decir, los operadores pueden pagar su espectro desplegándolo. Los reguladores de otros países como Perú han empleado una estrategia similar, eximiendo una parte de las tarifas anuales de espectro de los operadores para despliegues de 5G en zonas rurales o no atendidas.

Mientras tanto, el enfoque de México para la asignación de espectro puede ser una advertencia. Según la GSMA, los costos del espectro de México son establecidos cada año por el Congreso del país, y “este proceso de aprobación anual crea incertidumbre, ya que es imposible para los operadores móviles anticipar cómo evolucionarán estas tarifas”, escribió la asociación comercial. De hecho, Movistar de Telefónica en México devolvió sus tenencias de espectro a los reguladores en 2022 para convertirse en un MVNO en la red de AT&T México. Más recientemente, el regulador de telecomunicaciones de México canceló una subasta de espectro debido a la falta de recursos.

En términos generales, la cantidad promedio de espectro asignado a los operadores de redes móviles en los países latinoamericanos aumentó en un 51% entre 2016 y 2024, de 267 MHz a 403 MHz, según la GSMA. Pero eso es significativamente menor que el promedio mundial, que fue de 574 MHz en 2024.

No obstante, la situación sigue desarrollándose. Según la GSMA, Paraguay y Perú se encontraban entre el puñado de países que celebraron subastas de espectro en el tercer trimestre de 2025. Y Bolivia, Ecuador y Colombia se encuentran entre los países que han programado subastas de espectro adicionales en el futuro.

Por supuesto, una vez que los reguladores liberan el espectro, los operadores deben ponerlo en acción.

El 5G muestra velocidades más rápidas, y velocidades más rápidas son satisfactorias

América Móvil es el gigante regional de 5G de América Latina. Pero los gastos de capital (capex) generales de la compañía se han ralentizado en los últimos años después de un gasto significativo en espectro e infraestructura de red. Específicamente, el capex de América Móvil alcanzó los 8.6 mil millones de dólares en 2023, pero cayó a 7 mil millones el año pasado de dólares. Para 2025, la compañía va en camino de gastar 6.7 mil millones de dólares.

Esa desaceleración en el gasto coincide con la salida de Telefónica de muchos mercados latinoamericanos con 5G, debido a sus planes de centrarse en sus mercados “centrales” en Europa y Brasil.

Millicom, mientras tanto, es la empresa posicionada para reemplazar a Telefónica como el segundo operador de telecomunicaciones más grande de la región. Millicom invierte más de mil millones de dólares anualmente en sus redes fijas y móviles, según un informe detallado sobre las operaciones de la compañía. Pero eso no significa necesariamente que Millicom planee inyectar 5G en su creciente huella móvil latinoamericana. Los funcionarios de Millicom han sugerido un énfasis en la fibra y el 4G, desplegando 5G sólo en “el mejor momento”.

También existe la cuestión de en qué equipos 5G deberían gastar los operadores todo su capex. Aquí surge la pregunta de Huawei: ¿deberían los operadores latinoamericanos prestar atención a las advertencias de ciberseguridad de EE. UU. sobre el uso de equipos de proveedores chinos como Huawei? Muchos no lo han hecho.

A pesar del intenso debate político sobre el tema, Brasil no prohibió a Huawei como parte de sus primeras subastas de 5G. En consecuencia, Huawei suministra porciones significativas de la red de acceso de radio (RAN) 5G para los tres grandes operadores del país. Los operadores de Perú y México también utilizan equipos de proveedores chinos.

Pero Huawei no tiene el control total del mercado latinoamericano. Por ejemplo, la sueca Ericsson es el único proveedor de 5G para Entel Chile. En Argentina, Movistar de Telefónica seleccionó a Ericsson para su modernización de red a estándares listos para 5G. Y Claro de América Móvil en Colombia y Argentina, y TIM Brasil, seleccionaron a Nokia de Finlandia para amplios despliegues de 5G.

En cualquier caso, una vez que los operadores pagan por el equipo para poner el 5G a trabajar, a menudo tienen un progreso claro que mostrar:

Y las velocidades más rápidas también se pueden relacionar con la satisfacción de los clientes. Los datos de Speedtest Intelligence en México muestran una correlación entre las conexiones rápidas y los suscriptores contentos.

Aun así, ofrecer velocidades más rápidas es sólo un primer paso. Los operadores también deben empaquetar las conexiones 5G de una manera que sea atractiva para los clientes potenciales. Aquí también hay señales de progreso. Por ejemplo, Telcel de América Móvil en México promueve el 5G a sus usuarios de prepago, un guiño al hecho de que más del 80% de los usuarios móviles mexicanos se suscriben a planes de prepago. Y Claro de América Móvil en Brasil promociona la velocidad de su red 5G en apoyo de su acuerdo con OpenAI para ofrecer ChatGPT a sus clientes móviles.

Como resultado de tales esfuerzos, GSMA Intelligence predice que el 5G se extenderá al 50% de todas las conexiones móviles latinoamericanas para 2030, o 410 millones de personas. Eso está justo por debajo del promedio mundial del 57% esperado por la firma en ese año.

SA, redes privadas y FWA insinúan el futuro

La versión “No Autónoma” (Non-Standalone, NSA) de 5G se lanzó primero y ha sido ampliamente adoptada a nivel mundial. Sin embargo, la iteración “Autónoma”, o SA, de 5G a veces se denomina la versión “verdadera” de 5G. Eso se debe en parte a que 5G SA no se basa en una red central 4G como lo hace la versión “No Autónoma” (NSA) de 5G. SA también es compatible con servicios avanzados como el network slicing (una tecnología que puede canalizar tipos selectos de tráfico de usuarios a canales más rápidos).

En la transición de América Latina a SA, Brasil es un caso destacado. Según los datos de Speedtest, aproximadamente el 1.6% de todas las muestras de 5G en Brasil utilizaron tecnología 5G SA en el tercer trimestre de 2025. Solo Puerto Rico ocupó un lugar más alto, con un 41.1% de las muestras de 5G utilizando tecnología 5G SA. Es probable que esto se deba a la red de T-Mobile en el país; T-Mobile hizo un movimiento temprano hacia la tecnología 5G SA en todas sus operaciones en EE. UU.

Según GSMA Intelligence, Argentina, Colombia y Costa Rica son los otros países latinoamericanos con redes SA comerciales. Pero esas conexiones aún no aparecen en tamaños de muestra de Speedtest que sean estadísticamente relevantes.

Dicho esto, el FWA puede ser un servicio más tangible que insinúa un futuro habilitado por la tecnología 5G. El fixed wireless o acceso inalámbrico fijo permite a los operadores de 5G (aquellos con tenencias de espectro adecuadas y equipos compatibles con FWA) proporcionar conexiones de banda ancha a los hogares y oficinas de los usuarios. El FWA puede servir como una alternativa a las conexiones por cable en áreas remotas o rurales, o como una respuesta competitiva a otros proveedores de internet fijo.

GSMA Intelligence cuenta aproximadamente una docena de países latinoamericanos con servicios FWA.

Una vez más, Brasil parece ser el destacado aquí. Por ejemplo, Claro en Brasil lanzó su oferta 5G+ FWA en 2023 con velocidades de hasta 1 Gbps. Los planes de la compañía limitan el uso mensual de los clientes a partir de 200 GB por mes. De manera similar, Vivo de Telefônica Brasil lanzó su Box 5G en 2024 con un límite de 150 GB por mes.

Y Brisanet, un retador regional en Brasil, está buscando agresivamente 5G FWA con límites de datos más grandes. La compañía contó con 37.000 clientes FWA en su trimestre más reciente.

Otros países latinoamericanos están experimentando afloramientos de FWA similares. Claro de América Móvil en Colombia lanzó FWA en 2024 con un límite mensual de 160 GB. En México, Internet en Casa de AT&T ofrece velocidades de alrededor de 10 Mbps. Y Personal en Argentina cuenta con alrededor de 50.000 usuarios de FWA.

Otra señal de la maduración del 5G en América Latina es la llegada de las redes inalámbricas privadas 5G, que pueden ser utilizadas por empresas para aplicaciones que van desde la minería autónoma hasta el refinado de petróleo y la fabricación industrial. Este tipo de operaciones están apareciendo cada vez más en países como Brasil y Chile.

En cualquier caso, el avance del FWA, así como el del 5G SA, las redes inalámbricas privadas y otras tecnologías avanzadas, muestran que algunos habitantes de América Latina están viendo la promesa del 5G. Esto se puede atribuir a reguladores eficientes y con visión de futuro, compromisos financieros significativos por parte de algunos operadores y un deseo entre los usuarios de conexiones cada vez más rápidas.

Pero el 5G todavía está en sus primeras etapas en toda la región, con muchos países aún rezagados significativamente en los amplios despliegues de 5G. Los costos del espectro, como los de México, contribuyen. También lo hacen los retrasos regulatorios, como los que han ralentizado las subastas de espectro en lugares como Colombia. Y todo eso puede afectar al interés de los operadores en el 5G, como se ve en la intención de Millicom de seguir aprovechando el 4G hasta que llegue el momento del 5G.

About the author

Mike Dano

Ookla Research™ Articles

Mike Dano | November 24, 2025

Starlink Ignites Internet Fiesta in Rural Latin America

SpaceX’s satellite internet service is showing growth throughout Latin America, just as other companies ramp up alternatives.

Spanish/Español

SpaceX’s Starlink internet service is the clear leader among consumer-oriented satellite internet providers in Latin America. Indeed, the company accounted for 98.2% of all consumer-oriented, satellite-based Speedtests conducted throughout the region in the third quarter of 2025.

But success invites competition. Starlink continues to push against established satellite internet providers Viasat and HughesNet. And soon it will face even more competition when Amazon Leo commercially launches service later this year.

Regardless, rural internet users throughout Latin America stand to benefit: The median download speed available through a satellite internet connection – across all consumer-oriented satellite internet providers – rose from 29.12 Mbps in the first quarter of 2023 to 72.01 Mbps in the third quarter of 2025.

Key takeaways:

Starlink consistently provided faster download and upload speeds throughout Latin America when compared with other satellite operators offering internet services to consumers between the first quarter of 2023 and the third quarter of 2025. Starlink’s median download speeds across the region reached 82.54 Mbps in the third quarter of 2025, above Viasat’s 32.73 Mbps and 15.93 Mbps from HughesNet. In some cases, Starlink’s median download speeds were also competitive with those from local fixed internet providers, such as in the Dominican Republic. But in other countries, like Chile, Starlink’s median download speeds were around a third of those provided by local fixed internet providers in the third quarter of 2025.
Starlink’s network performance has improved across many different Latin American countries. For example, its median download speeds have been on the upswing in Chile, Mexico, Brazil, and the Dominican Republic (the company’s first four Latin American markets) since the beginning of 2025. And in the third quarter of 2025, the company’s latency speeds improved in countries like Costa Rica, Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras, likely due to the installation of new ground stations and other terrestrial infrastructure in that specific region.
Competition is poised to rise in the Latin American market for consumer-oriented satellite internet service. While Starlink plans upgrades to its own system, so too are existing providers like Viasat and HughesNet. Meanwhile, newcomers like Amazon Leo promise to provide alternatives.

Starlink lands in Latam

According to the GSMA’s Mobile Connectivity Index, significant portions of Latin America’s residents live in rural areas. In Brazil, the region’s largest country by population, 12% of residents lived in such areas in 2024. In Mexico, that figure was 18%. In Colombia and Peru, it was 21%. And in Bolivia, it was 29%.

Obviously this can create challenges for Latin Americans on the hunt for high-speed internet access. For example, one study from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) found that 2,817 schools in Guatemala lacked adequate connectivity. The groups acknowledged that satellites are the only feasible technological option that could bring all of those schools online.

That said, satellites still represent a tiny fraction of the overall market for broadband services in Latin America. According to one estimate, satellite internet services in the region generated $562 million in revenues in 2024 – or around 1% of the estimated $56 billion generated by the region’s broadband services (including fiber and mobile) in 2024. That figure dovetails with recent numbers from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), which calculated that satellites accounted for 1% of fixed broadband subscriptions across all OECD countries at the end 2024.

Starlink and other satellite internet providers could help grow these numbers. Already Starlink’s Speedtest samples across Latin America have increased by more than 4x during the past 11 quarters.

Starlink’s Latin American growth is underpinned by the 10,000 low Earth orbit (LEO) Starlink satellites launched via SpaceX rockets since 2019. In 2025 alone, SpaceX has conducted more than 100 Starlink satellite launch missions. According to the GSMA, Starlink now controls up to 90% of the world’s communication satellites (excluding the three major Chinese constellations).

In early November 2025, Starlink said it provided connections to a total of 8 million people globally. That’s up from the 7 million mark Starlink reported at the end of August 2025 – a 14% increase in its customer base in just 69 days.

According to local telecom regulators, Starlink counted a total of 425,514 customers across Brazil and Mexico (Latin America’s two most populous countries) toward the end of last year. That would account for around 10% of the 4 million people Starlink counted in its global customer base at that time.

Starlink first began offering services in Latin America in 2021, starting with Chile (in September 2021) and then quickly expanding to Mexico (November 2021), Brazil (January 2022) and the Dominican Republic (July 2022).

Starlink's First Four Latin American Markets
Ookla Speedtest data, starting after market launch | Q4 2021 – Q3 2025

In general, Starlink’s median download speeds dipped in the months after its initial launch in each market, as the company loads more users onto its network. This is a consequence of multiple users sharing a finite resource (Starlink’s network and spectrum) and it can also be seen in Starlink’s performance on other continents as well as during events that bring together large numbers of Starlink users. As the company’s network speeds slow, Starlink can then tailor its pricing and offerings in order to moderate the addition of new customers onto its network – the company’s coverage map currently shows locations where its services are “sold out.”

The overall competitiveness of Starlink’s network performance can vary dramatically by country. In Chile, for example, Starlink’s median download speeds in the third quarter of 2025 (106.38 Mbps) significantly trailed those available from the country’s fixed internet providers at 354.53 Mbps. Chile, after all, is where 50 Gbps service plans are beginning to emerge.

Meanwhile, in the Dominican Republic, Starlink’s median download speeds of 55.01 Mbps in the third quarter of 2025 were very close to the 53.71 Mbps median download speeds provided by the country’s fixed internet providers.

Starlink accelerates across Latin America

This, however, is just the beginning. Since the start of 2023, Starlink has introduced its satellite internet services in a total of 11 new Latin American markets, countries that account for around one out of every four Latin Americans.

Market	Starlink launch date
Peru	January 2023
Colombia	January 2023
El Salvador	April 2023
Panama	May 2023
Guatemala	July 2023
Costa Rica	November 2023
Honduras	December 2023
Paraguay	December 2023
Argentina	March 2024
Uruguay	May 2024
Guyana	April 2025

In general, Starlink’s median upload and download speeds in these newer markets have been rising since the beginning of this year, likely due to the additional satellites Starlink has been adding to its constellation.

Starlink Latin American Market Launches, Q1 2023 – Q3 2025
Ookla Speedtest data for each of Starlink's new markets in Latin America, starting after the market launch

Starlink’s latency measurements – particularly in neighboring Central American countries like Costa Rica, Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras – showed improvement in the third quarter of 2025. That may be due to the installation of new ground stations and other terrestrial infrastructure in that specific region. Such equipment can more quickly route user traffic from Starlink’s satellite network and onto the public internet backbone via physically shorter, more direct paths to users’ internet destinations.

Along these lines, Starlink’s own network performance map shows Guyana (Starlink’s newest Latin American market) with higher latency speeds than any other location in Latin America. A third-party map of Starlink’s terrestrial infrastructure indicates a possible reason: The nearest Starlink terrestrial infrastructure is in Manaus, Brazil, some 350 miles away from Guyana.

Starlink isn’t the only game in town

Starlink is a relatively new player in the market for satellite internet services across Latin America.

Viasat, founded in the 1980s, counts around 157,000 satellite internet subscribers in the U.S., down from around 228,000 a year ago. The company does not disclose the number of customers it has outside of the U.S. And HughesNet, owned by EchoStar, was founded in the 1990s and counts roughly 783,000 satellite internet customers globally. That too is down from the 912,000 it counted a year ago. HughesNet doesn’t break out its Latin American customer figures, but around a year ago it told one publication that it had 400,000 subscribers across Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, and Peru (which would account for about 44% of the company’s global customer base at the time).

Like Starlink, both Viasat and HughesNet sell satellite internet services directly to consumers. And like Starlink, both companies also operate their own satellites. However, Viasat and HughesNet maintain a handful of large, geostationary orbit (GEO) satellites whereas Starlink’s satellites are smaller, much more plentiful, and orbit closer to the Earth.

This design difference in satellite constellations is the main reason for the disparity in performance between Starlink and Viasat and HughesNet in Latin America and elsewhere.

Latin American Consumer-Oriented Satellite Internet Providers
Ookla Speedtest data | Latin America | Q1 2023 – Q3 2025

Satellite market on course to become more complex and diverse

Starlink, Viasat and HughesNet aren’t the only companies flying satellites over Latin America.

For example, OneWeb Eutelsat also operates a global LEO constellation of 600 satellites. The company, originally founded in 2012, eventually filed for bankruptcy protection and, later, merged with European GEO satellite operator Eutelsat to become OneWeb Eutelsat. Today, it focuses on wholesale connectivity rather than direct-to-consumer sales. OneWeb Eutelsat connections occasionally show up in Ookla data for Latin America but not in statistically relevant numbers.

SES also targets the market for wholesale satellite internet services in Latin America. The company, founded in the 1980s, operates both GEO and medium Earth orbit (MEO) satellites. Like OneWeb Eutelsat, SES connections occasionally show up in Ookla data for Latin America with speeds generally below those provided by the likes of Viasat and HughesNet.

Finally, Andesat and Hispasat are also worth mentioning in a discussion of satellite internet because both companies are based in Latin America and both operate a handful of their own satellites. Both companies target the business-to-business sector, like SES and OneWeb Eutelsat. Hispasat connections occasionally show up in Ookla data for Latin America, and speeds are similar to those of SES.

Nonetheless, Andesat and Hispasat are important because they both dovetail with ongoing geopolitical sensitivities concerning national satellite sovereignty. For example, Starlink is not currently authorized in Bolivia, reflecting that country’s specific regulatory environment. On the opposite side of such issues, Starlink cannot sell services in Venezuela due to U.S. embargoes.

Starlink’s coverage map reflects these ongoing geopolitical realities, showing coverage gaps across Latin American countries like Cuba and Nicaragua.

That said, much may change in the future. Amazon Leo’s pending launch of commercial satellite internet service is perhaps the clearest signal of this change. Last year, Latin American media and telecom provider Vrio announced plans to sell Amazon Leo connections to consumers in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Uruguay, Peru, Ecuador, and Colombia through DirecTV Latin America and Sky Brasil.

Meanwhile, Viasat and HughesNet are planning to launch additional satellites in support of their own offerings. Other satellite companies – such as Telesat in Canada – are also planning to join the fray.

But Starlink isn’t standing still. The company is planning a major upgrade to its satellite constellation – via its bigger V3 satellites – that could further improve its network speeds and capacity. That effort may be bolstered by SpaceX’s bigger Starship rocket, which promises to launch more Starlink satellites than the company’s current rockets.

To find out more about Speedtest Intelligence® data and insights, visit our website.

Starlink enciende la fiesta de internet en la América Latina rural

El servicio de internet por satélite de SpaceX está registrando un crecimiento en toda América Latina, justo cuando otras compañías intensifican las alternativas.

El servicio de internet Starlink de SpaceX es el líder claro entre los proveedores de internet por satélite orientados al consumidor en América Latina. De hecho, la compañía representó el 98,2% de todos las muestras de Speedtest por satélite hechas por consumidor registradas en toda la región en el tercer trimestre de 2025.

Pero el éxito atrae a la competencia. Starlink continúa presionando a los proveedores de internet por satélite establecidos Viasat y HughesNet. Y pronto se enfrentará a aún más competencia cuando Amazon Leo lance comercialmente su servicio a finales de este año.

En cualquier caso, los usuarios rurales de internet en toda América Latina se beneficiarán: la velocidad media de descarga disponible a través de una conexión a internet por satélite —en todos los proveedores de internet por satélite— aumentó de 29,12 Mbps en el primer trimestre de 2023 a 72,01 Mbps en el tercer trimestre de 2025.

Principales conclusiones:

Starlink proporcionó de manera constante velocidades de descarga y subida más rápidas en toda América Latina en comparación con otros operadores de satélite que ofrecen servicios de internet a los consumidores entre el primer trimestre de 2023 y el tercer trimestre de 2025. Las velocidades medianas de descarga de Starlink en la región alcanzaron 82,54 Mbps en el tercer trimestre de 2025, por encima de los 32,73 Mbps de Viasat y los 15,93 Mbps de HughesNet. En algunos casos, las velocidades medianas de descarga de Starlink también fueron competitivas con las de los proveedores de internet fijos locales, como en la República Dominicana. Pero en otros países, como Chile, las velocidades medianas de descarga de Starlink fueron alrededor de un tercio de las proporcionadas por los proveedores de internet fijos locales en el tercer trimestre de 2025.
El rendimiento de la red de Starlink ha mejorado en muchos países diferentes de América Latina. Por ejemplo, sus velocidades medianas de descarga han ido en aumento en Chile, México, Brasil y la República Dominicana (los primeros cuatro mercados latinoamericanos de la compañía) desde principios de 2025. Y en el tercer trimestre de 2025, la latencia de la compañía mejoró en países como Costa Rica, Guatemala, El Salvador y Honduras, probablemente debido a la instalación de nuevas estaciones terrestres y otras infraestructuras terrestres en esa región específica.
La competencia está a punto de aumentar en el mercado latinoamericano de servicios de internet por satélite orientados al consumidor. Mientras Starlink planea mejoras en su propio sistema, también lo están haciendo los proveedores existentes como Viasat y HughesNet. Mientras tanto, los recién llegados como Amazon Leo prometen proporcionar alternativas.

Starlink aterriza en Latam

Según el Índice de Conectividad Móvil de la GSMA, una parte significativa de los residentes de América Latina vive en zonas rurales. En Brasil, el país más grande de la región por población, el 12% de los residentes vivía en dichas áreas en 2024. En México, esa cifra era del 18%. En Colombia y Perú, era del 21%. Y en Bolivia, era del 29%.

Obviamente, esto puede generar desafíos para los latinoamericanos en la búsqueda de acceso a internet de alta velocidad. Por ejemplo, un estudio del Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo (BID) y la Unión Internacional de Telecomunicaciones (UIT) descubrió que 2.817 escuelas en Guatemala carecían de la conectividad adecuada. Los grupos reconocieron que los satélites son la única opción tecnológica viable que podría conectar todas esas escuelas.

Dicho esto, los satélites todavía representan una ínfima parte del mercado global de servicios de banda ancha en América Latina. Según una estimación, los servicios de internet por satélite en la región generaron 562 millones de dólares en ingresos en 2024, o alrededor del 1% de los 56 mil millones de dólares estimados generados por los servicios de banda ancha de la región (incluyendo fibra y móvil) en 2024. Esa cifra concuerda con los números recientes de la Organización para la Cooperación y el Desarrollo Económicos (OCDE), que calculó que los satélites representaban el 1% de las suscripciones de banda ancha fija en todos los países de la OCDE a finales de 2024.

Starlink y otros proveedores de internet por satélite podrían ayudar a aumentar estas cifras. Las muestras de Speedtest de Starlink en toda América Latina ya se han multiplicado por más de 4 durante los últimos 11 trimestres.

El crecimiento de Starlink en América Latina se sustenta en los 10.000 satélites Starlink de órbita terrestre baja (LEO) lanzados mediante cohetes SpaceX desde 2019. Solo en 2025, SpaceX ha llevado a cabo más de 100 misiones de lanzamiento de satélites Starlink. Según la GSMA, Starlink ahora controla hasta el 90% de los satélites de comunicaciones del mundo (excluyendo las tres principales constelaciones chinas).

A principios de noviembre de 2025, Starlink dijo que proporcionaba conexiones a un total de 8 millones de personas a nivel mundial. Eso es un aumento con respecto a la marca de 7 millones que Starlink reportó a finales de agosto de 2025, un aumento del 14% en su base de clientes en sólo 69 días.

Según los reguladores locales de telecomunicaciones, Starlink contaba con un total de 425.514 clientes entre Brasil y México (los dos países más poblados de América Latina) hacia finales del año pasado. Eso representaría alrededor del 10% de los 4 millones de personas con las que Starlink contaba en su base de clientes global en ese momento.

Starlink comenzó a ofrecer servicios en América Latina por primera vez en 2021, empezando por Chile (en septiembre de 2021) y luego expandiéndose rápidamente a México (noviembre de 2021), Brasil (enero de 2022) y la República Dominicana (julio de 2022).

Primeros cuatro mercados de Starlink en Latinoamérica
Datos de Speedtest de Ookla, desde el lanzamiento en el mercado / 4º trim. 2021 – 3er trim. 2025

En general, las velocidades medianas de descarga de Starlink disminuyeron en los meses posteriores a su lanzamiento inicial en cada mercado, a medida que la empresa incorporaba más usuarios a su red. Esta es una consecuencia de que múltiples usuarios compartan un recurso finito (la red y el espectro de Starlink) y también se puede observar en el rendimiento de Starlink en otros continentes, así como durante eventos que reúnen a un gran número de usuarios de Starlink. A medida que la velocidad de la red de la compañía se ralentiza, Starlink puede ajustar sus precios y ofertas para moderar la adición de nuevos clientes a su red. El mapa de cobertura de la compañía actualmente muestra ubicaciones donde sus servicios están “agotados” (sold out).

La competitividad general del rendimiento de la red de Starlink puede variar drásticamente según el país. En Chile, por ejemplo, las velocidades medianas de descarga de Starlink en el tercer trimestre de 2025 (106,38 Mbps) quedaron significativamente por detrás de las disponibles a través de los proveedores de internet fijos del país, con 354,53 Mbps. Después de todo, Chile es donde los planes de servicio de 50 Gbps están comenzando a surgir.

Mientras tanto, en la República Dominicana, las velocidades medianas de descarga de Starlink de 55,01 Mbps en el tercer trimestre de 2025 estuvieron muy cerca de las velocidades medias de descarga de 53,71 Mbps proporcionadas por los proveedores de internet fijos del país.

Starlink acelera en América Latina

Sin embargo, esto es sólo el principio. Desde el comienzo de 2023, Starlink ha introducido sus servicios de internet por satélite en un total de 11 nuevos mercados latinoamericanos, países que representan aproximadamente a uno de cada cuatro latinoamericanos.

Mercado	Fecha lanzamiento Starlink
Perú	Enero 2023
Colombia	Enero 2023
El Salvador	Abril 2023
Panamá	Mayo 2023
Guatemala	Julio 2023
Costa Rica	Noviembre 2023
Honduras	Diciembre 2023
Paraguay	Diciembre 2023
Argentina	Marzo 2024
Uruguay	Mayo 2024
Guyana	Abril 2025

En general, las velocidades medianas de subida y descarga de Starlink en estos mercados más nuevos han ido en aumento desde principios de este año, probablemente debido a los satélites adicionales que Starlink ha estado añadiendo a su constelación.

Lanzamiento Starlink en Latinoamérica. 1er trim. 2021 – 3er trim. 2025
Datos de Speedtest de Ookla para cada uno de los nuevos mercados en Latinoamérica, desde el lanzamiento en el mercado

Las mediciones de latencia de Starlink —particularmente en países vecinos de Centroamérica como Costa Rica, Guatemala, El Salvador y Honduras— mostraron una mejora en el tercer trimestre de 2025. Esto puede deberse a la instalación de nuevas estaciones terrestres y otras infraestructuras terrestres en esa región específica. Dicho equipo puede encaminar más rápidamente el tráfico de los usuarios desde la red satelital de Starlink hacia la red troncal de internet pública a través de rutas físicamente más cortas y directas hacia los destinos de internet de los usuarios.

En esta línea, el propio mapa de rendimiento de la red de Starlink muestra a Guyana (el mercado latinoamericano más reciente de Starlink) con menores latencias que cualquier otra ubicación en América Latina. Un mapa de terceros de la infraestructura terrestre de Starlink indica una posible razón: la infraestructura terrestre de Starlink más cercana se encuentra en Manaus, Brasil, a unas 350 millas (aproximadamente 563 kilómetros) de Guyana.

Starlink no es el único actor en el mercado

Starlink es un actor relativamente nuevo en el mercado de servicios de internet por satélite en América Latina.

Viasat, fundada en la década de 1980, cuenta con alrededor de 157.000 suscriptores de internet por satélite en EE. UU., una cifra inferior a los aproximadamente 228.000 de hace un año. La compañía no revela el número de clientes que tiene fuera de EE. UU. Y HughesNet, propiedad de EchoStar, fue fundada en la década de 1990 y cuenta con aproximadamente 783.000 clientes de internet por satélite a nivel mundial. Esta cifra también es inferior a los 912.000 que tenía hace un año. HughesNet no desglosa sus cifras de clientes en América Latina, pero hace aproximadamente un año declaró a una publicación que tenía 400.000 suscriptores entre Brasil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, México y Perú (lo que representaría alrededor del 44% de la base global de clientes de la compañía en ese momento).

Al igual que Starlink, tanto Viasat como HughesNet venden servicios de internet por satélite directamente a los consumidores. Y al igual que Starlink, ambas compañías también operan sus propios satélites. Sin embargo, Viasat y HughesNet mantienen un puñado de satélites grandes en órbita geoestacionaria (GEO), mientras que los satélites de Starlink son más pequeños, mucho más numerosos y orbitan más cerca de la Tierra.

Esta diferencia de diseño en las constelaciones de satélites es la razón principal de la disparidad en el rendimiento entre Starlink, Viasat y HughesNet, tanto en América Latina como en otros lugares.

Proveedores de satélite al consumidor final en Latinoamérica
Datos de Speedtest de Ookla / Latinoamérica / 1er trim 2023 – 3er trim. 2025

El mercado del satélite rumbo a ser más complejo y diverso

Starlink, Viasat y HughesNet no son las únicas compañías que tienen satélites sobre América Latina.

Por ejemplo, OneWeb Eutelsat también opera una constelación LEO global de 600 satélites. La compañía, fundada originalmente en 2012, finalmente se declaró en bancarrota y, más tarde, se fusionó con el operador europeo de satélites GEO Eutelsat para convertirse en OneWeb Eutelsat. Hoy en día, se centra en la conectividad mayorista (wholesale) en lugar de las ventas directas al consumidor. Las conexiones de OneWeb Eutelsat aparecen ocasionalmente en los datos de Ookla para América Latina, pero no en números estadísticamente relevantes.

SES también se dirige al mercado de servicios de internet satelital mayoristas en América Latina. La compañía, fundada en la década de 1980, opera satélites tanto GEO como de órbita terrestre media (MEO). Al igual que OneWeb Eutelsat, las conexiones de SES aparecen ocasionalmente en los datos de Ookla para América Latina, con velocidades generalmente inferiores a las proporcionadas por empresas como Viasat y HughesNet.

Finalmente, también vale la pena mencionar a Andesat e Hispasat en una discusión sobre internet satelital, porque ambas compañías tienen su sede en América Latina y ambas operan un puñado de sus propios satélites. Ambas compañías se dirigen al sector business-to-business (de empresa a empresa), al igual que SES y OneWeb Eutelsat. Las conexiones de Hispasat aparecen ocasionalmente en los datos de Ookla para América Latina, y las velocidades son similares a las de SES.

No obstante, Andesat e Hispasat son importantes porque ambas encajan con las sensibilidades geopolíticas actuales relativas a la soberanía satelital nacional. Por ejemplo, Starlink no está actualmente autorizado en Bolivia, lo que refleja el entorno regulatorio específico de ese país. En el lado opuesto de tales cuestiones, Starlink no puede vender servicios en Venezuela debido a los embargos de EE.UU.

El mapa de cobertura de Starlink refleja estas realidades geopolíticas actuales, mostrando lagunas de cobertura en países latinoamericanos como Cuba y Nicaragua.

Dicho esto, mucho puede cambiar en el futuro. El inminente lanzamiento del servicio comercial de internet por satélite Amazon Leo es quizás la señal más clara de este cambio. El año pasado, el proveedor latinoamericano de medios y telecomunicaciones Vrio anunció planes para vender conexiones de Amazon Leo a consumidores en Argentina, Brasil, Chile, Uruguay, Perú, Ecuador y Colombia a través de DirecTV Latin America y Sky Brasil.

Mientras tanto, Viasat y HughesNet están planeando lanzar satélites adicionales en apoyo de sus propias ofertas. Otras compañías satelitales, como Telesat en Canadá, también planean unirse a la contienda.

Pero Starlink no se queda quieto. La compañía está planeando una actualización importante de su constelación de satélites, a través de sus satélites V3 más grandes, que podría mejorar aún más la velocidad y capacidad de su red. Ese esfuerzo puede verse reforzado por el cohete Starship, más grande de SpaceX, que promete lanzar más satélites Starlink que los cohetes actuales de la compañía.

Para obtener más información sobre los datos y la información de Speedtest Intelligence®, visite nuestro sitio web.

About the author

Mike Dano

Ookla Research™ Articles

Mike Dano | October 28, 2025

AT&T’s New FWA Strategy is Playing Out in Houston

Fortified with additional spectrum from EchoStar, AT&T is battling Comcast and other internet providers in Houston with its fixed wireless access (FWA) service.

Like Verizon and T-Mobile, AT&T is now putting more emphasis onto its FWA business. As part of that effort, AT&T agreed in August to purchase $23 billion worth of spectrum from EchoStar, including an average of 30 MHz of nationwide 3.45 GHz midband spectrum.

And AT&T can activate that spectrum relatively quickly – the operator can add EchoStar’s spectrum into its network through a software upgrade to its existing 5G equipment.

AT&T’s FWA strategy is crystalizing in Houston, Texas, where AT&T also operates an extensive fiber network. AT&T’s efforts there may pose a competitive threat to other fixed internet operators in the Houston market, including Xfinity provider Comcast, Ezee Fiber, and others.

Key takeaways:

Houston is a prime battleground for cable, fiber, and FWA. According to Ookla Speedtest Intelligence® data, AT&T’s median FWA download speed in Houston was 106.40 Mbps in September 2025, and its median upload speed during that period was 7.41 Mbps. That’s slower than the fiber offerings from AT&T and the cable offerings from Comcast in the city.
AT&T’s midband spectrum holdings (C-band and 3.45 GHz) in Houston stand to grow from 120 MHz to 150 MHz, a 25% increase, thanks to the addition of EchoStar’s 3.45 GHz spectrum licenses. More spectrum typically results in additional network capacity and faster speeds.
AT&T is using FWA to expand beyond the reaches of its fiber network in Houston, thereby competing with other fixed internet providers in Houston suburbs like Conroe and League City.

AT&T has reignited its FWA business

AT&T is no stranger to FWA. In 2015, AT&T agreed to offer internet connections in 1.1 million rural locations across 18 states as part of the U.S. government’s CAF II program. AT&T used 4G LTE-based FWA to reach some of those locations, offering speeds of at least 10 Mbps down and 1 Mbps up (which met the FCC’s broadband benchmarks at that time).

More recently, AT&T has re-engaged with FWA in a significant way via its 5G network. The company launched its 5G-powered Internet Air FWA product in August 2023, and has seen significant customer growth since.

AT&T Quarterly FWA Net Customer Additions
Operator reports | 2023-2025

However, AT&T has not pursued the FWA market as aggressively as its rivals. AT&T in the second quarter of 2025 passed the 1 million FWA customer milestone, while T-Mobile counted around 7.3 million FWA customers and Verizon said it had around 5.1 million FWA customers. Importantly, FWA speeds across all three providers have been increasing, according to Ookla findings.

Collectively, the FWA services from AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon have had a major impact on cable operators in the U.S. T-Mobile, Verizon, and AT&T added a combined 3.7 million FWA customers during 2024, while the nation’s top cable companies collectively lost roughly 1 million broadband subscribers.

AT&T officials have said the operator plans to use FWA in three situations:

Outside of AT&T’s fiber footprint, thereby extending the reach of its converged fixed wireless / smartphone service.
Inside its legacy copper network footprint. AT&T is working to decommission its copper network, and it will offer fixed wireless services to customers who will not receive a fiber alternative.
In its planned fiber footprint. AT&T currently covers around 30 million U.S. locations with fiber, but it hopes to expand that to a total of 60 million locations by the end of 2030. The company plans to use FWA as an interim anchor while it builds fiber to those remaining locations.

That overall strategy aligns with AT&T’s efforts to sign up customers to multiple services – those customers are the most valuable, according to AT&T, in that they have the lowest churn profiles and highest lifetime values. In the third quarter of 2025, AT&T said that more than 41% of its fiber customers also subscribed to its mobile service, and more than half of its Internet Air FWA subscribers also subscribed to AT&T’s mobile service.

Houston is an FWA battleground

Sunit Patel, the CFO of U.S. cell tower operator Crown Castle, described Houston as an ideal location for fixed wireless services, particularly at the boundary between suburban and rural areas. “That’s usually … a good area where fixed wireless will work well,” he said at a recent investor conference.

Houston is also one of the fastest growing cities in the U.S., making it a prime market for internet service providers on the hunt for more customers. According to Rice University’s Kinder Institute for Urban Research, the Houston metro area added over 1.5 million new residents between 2010 and 2023, second only to the Dallas-Fort Worth metro area in terms of overall growth. During that same time period, the Chicago metro area lost about 210,000 residents, Los Angeles’ population dipped by about 40,000 people, and the New York metro area added about 580,000 residents.

According to Speedtest Intelligence, AT&T’s FWA median download speeds trail those of fiber and cable providers in Houston. AT&T Internet Air median download speeds reached 106.40 Mbps in September, while its median upload speeds hit 7.42 Mbps. Meanwhile, Comcast’s median cable download speeds in Houston clocked in at 292.81 Mbps and its median upload speeds were 41.49 Mbps in September (Comcast has been working to improve its upload speeds in Houston and elsewhere, according to recent Ookla findings). AT&T’s median fiber download speeds in the city were 366.56 Mbps and its median upload speeds were 306.90 Mbps. And Ezee Fiber’s median download speeds reached 545.39 Mbps and its median upload speeds were 464.46 Mbps. It’s worth noting that many internet service providers offer different tiers of service, with faster plans available at a higher price.

According to Speedtest Insights®, AT&T’s fixed wireless business is spread throughout the greater Houston metro area:

Map of AT&T FWA Median Download Speeds in Houston, TX

This is likely due to the inherent limits of FWA on a 5G network. FWA is deployed in areas with excess 5G network capacity to prevent overloading. Dense accumulations of FWA customers might overload portions of that 5G network, affecting both FWA and smartphone customers.

This is much different from a fiber network design, which typically has plenty of capacity. As a result, fiber operators tend to load as many customers as possible onto their networks, regardless of user density. The more, the better. After all, each foot of an underground fiber network costs a median of $18.25 to build, according to the Fiber Broadband Association.

AT&T’s deployment of FWA on the fringes of its fiber network can be seen in Houston suburbs like Conroe and League City, according to Speedtest Insights. These are cities where AT&T’s fiber network does not fully reach – but where it is offering FWA connections. They are also locations where other providers – including Comcast, Ezee Fiber, and others – currently offer internet connections.

AT&T can leverage EchoStar’s spectrum to expand its FWA business

Although 5G operators can use any spectrum band for FWA, midband spectrum like 3.45 GHz (used by AT&T), C-band (used by AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile), and 2.5 GHz (used by T-Mobile) form the backbone of today’s 5G-powered FWA services in the U.S. Such spectrum is considered appropriate for covering wide geographic areas as well as providing speedy, high-capacity connections.

AT&T has been slowly growing its midband spectrum holdings. The operator spent around $23.4 billion in the FCC’s C-band auction in 2021. A year later, the operator bought $9 billion worth of 3.45 GHz spectrum in another FCC auction.

Now, AT&T plans to acquire more midband 3.45 GHz spectrum – and 20 MHz of lowband 600 MHz spectrum – from EchoStar, in a deal that still requires regulatory approval. AT&T currently doesn’t use 600 MHz spectrum in its network, which means the company will need to install new hardware on its cell towers in order to deploy that spectrum.

However, AT&T will be able to quickly add EchoStar’s 3.45 GHz spectrum to its existing network via a software upgrade. Meaning, AT&T won’t need to update each of its cell towers with new hardware – an expensive and time-consuming process – in order to put EchoStar’s 3.45 GHz spectrum licenses into use. AT&T officials said that, via a spectrum-leasing agreement with EchoStar, AT&T can add EchoStar’s midband spectrum to AT&T cell sites covering nearly two-thirds of the U.S. population by mid-November 2025.

Since network speeds and capacity are directly related to the amount of spectrum an operator has, the financial analysts at New Street Research estimate that EchoStar’s spectrum will allow AT&T’s network to support an additional 900,000 consumer FWA subscribers on a nationwide basis.

In Houston, AT&T stands to gain 30 MHz worth of EchoStar’s 3.45 GHz spectrum licenses, according to Spectrum Omega. That spectrum would be added to the 80 MHz of C-band and 40 MHz of 3.45 GHz spectrum that AT&T already owns in the market, giving it a total of 150 MHz of midband spectrum in Houston.

According to recent Ookla RootMetrics® drive test data from Houston, AT&T has been leaning heavily on its C-band and 3.45 GHz holdings to supply 5G connections to its smartphone customers in Houston.

AT&T Spectrum Band Utilization Percentages
RootMetrics® Houston drive test results | 2H 2025

Spectrum “depth” is another way to measure AT&T’s spectrum usage. The amount of spectrum in use in an operator’s network often directly relates to the speeds that operator can provide. AT&T used 120 MHz of midband spectrum (C-band and 3.45 GHz, via two-carrier aggregation) in 37.3% of RootMetrics’ tests in Houston in the second half of 2025. The operator used 80 MHz of midband spectrum (C-band) in another 46% of tests. This indicates that AT&T still has some additional spectrum to put into action inside its network for its smartphone and FWA customers.

Fiber, cable and FWA can be applied to the digital divide

A final element in a review of the greater Houston area involves the locations that are still not yet covered by the likes of AT&T, Comcast and others. For decades, various U.S. government programs have sought to bridge this digital divide in Texas and elsewhere.

For example, AT&T’s participation in the FCC’s CAF II program included almost 180,000 locations in rural parts of Texas. Similarly, Charter Communications pledged to cover a wide swath of East Texas via the FCC’s Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) rural broadband program.

Today, the Texas Broadband Development Office (BDO) rates most of the counties immediately in and around Houston as 90-100% served by broadband. But counties that are further afield rank lower. For example, Liberty County (just east of Conroe) is listed as 66.4% served by broadband. The FCC’s broadband benchmark was changed to 100 Mbps downloads and 20 Mbps uploads in 2024.

The U.S. government’s newest broadband funding program, the Broadband Equity Access and Deployment Program (BEAD), was recently reworked to put more focus on technologies like fixed wireless and low Earth orbit (LEO) satellites. That’s because those technologies are often cheaper and faster to deploy than fiber.

Texas’ BEAD funding map highlights areas around Houston that the state aims to cover with broadband. The state recently allocated around half of its $1.3 billion in BEAD grants to fiber providers, with the remainder split relatively evenly between fixed wireless and satellite providers. AT&T received $32 million in grants to cover 6,651 locations in Texas with fiber. Comcast didn’t receive any BEAD grants for Texas.

On a nationwide basis, AT&T has so far received $718.8 million in BEAD grants to cover 141,900 rural locations with broadband. AT&T intends to use fiber to meet those obligations. Comcast, meanwhile, has received $1.36 billion in grants to cover 226,900 rural locations across the U.S. with broadband. Comcast has pledged to meet around 69% of its BEAD obligations with fiber, and the remainder with cable.

According to the financial analysts at New Street Research, U.S. state regulators have so far allocated just 9% of BEAD grants to fixed wireless providers. The bulk (85%) of grants were awarded to fiber operators. Satellite providers like SpaceX and Amazon received 4% of the funding, while cable operators received 2%.

About the author

Mike Dano

Ookla Research™ Articles

Mike Dano | October 16, 2025

There's Growing Interest in T-Mobile's Starlink Satellite Service

Speedtest data highlights the early usage of T-Mobile’s T-Satellite service, which works on most new iOS and Android smartphones released in the past 2-4 years. The service is available to T-Mobile customers as well as customers of AT&T, Verizon and other providers.

Editor’s note: This article was updated on October 17 to include information about devices connecting to Starlink that also registered as having active service.

T-Mobile first announced its satellite plans with partner SpaceX in August 2022, just before Apple unveiled its own satellite partnership with Globalstar. Fast forward to 2025 and T-Mobile officially launched its satellite texting service with SpaceX on July 23.

Now, Ookla Speedtest® data provides a look at the early usage of T-Mobile’s T-Satellite service across T-Mobile, AT&T, Verizon and FirstNet users. (FirstNet is for public-safety customers and runs over AT&T’s network.) The below data is derived from Android smartphones that registered with SpaceX Starlink satellites at some point between December 2024 and September 2025.

Key Takeaways:

T-Mobile customers accounted for roughly 60% of all connections. When only counting devices that reported having active service at the time of their Starlink connection, that figure rose to 70.8%.
Los Angeles County, California, was the country’s most popular location for T-Satellite activity. This massive county contains both the city of Los Angeles and Angeles National Forest, an area known for its rugged mountains, steep canyons and extensive trail systems. It’s also where T-Mobile deployed free T-Satellite text messaging services in the early days of 2025, amid multiple wildfires.
The median download and upload speeds of Starlink’s fixed internet service showed no signs of degradation amid the testing and launch of T-Mobile’s T-Satellite service this year. That’s likely due to the fact that Starlink’s smartphone-capable satellites are different from those supporting its fixed internet service.

T-Satellite Rockets into the Commercial Marketplace

Direct to device (D2D) technology connects smartphones directly to satellites for text messaging and other services, primarily in outdoor, rural areas where no other connections exist. Those satellites are hundreds of miles above the Earth, traveling thousands of miles an hour. Thus, such phone-to-satellite connections represent an impressive technological feat considering standard, terrestrial cellular networks connect smartphones to stationary cell towers that are on the ground, usually just a few miles away.

Apple, via Globalstar’s satellites and spectrum holdings, pioneered the D2D market. Every iPhone since the iPhone 14, introduced in 2022, can send and receive text messages through these satellites. In September, Apple expanded D2D into its lineup of smartwatches.

But Apple isn’t the only D2D player to achieve liftoff.

T-Mobile first unveiled its satellite ambitions in 2022, via a public press conference featuring outgoing T-Mobile CEO Mike Sievert and SpaceX’s Elon Musk. The companies promised a service that could connect smartphones directly to SpaceX’s Starlink satellites via a sliver of T-Mobile’s licensed spectrum holdings. Unlike Apple and Globalstar’s offering, this setup doesn’t require users to purchase a new phone.

SpaceX began launching satellites in support of its D2D service starting in early 2024.

Then, in February of 2025, T-Mobile launched a beta test of its SpaceX-powered T-Satellite text messaging service, complete with a high-profile Super Bowl advertisement. Importantly, T-Mobile offered the beta service for free, for three months, to its own customers as well as customers of its rivals, AT&T and Verizon. T-Mobile said it gradually added users to the service as part of its testing efforts, eventually gaining 2 million signups for the beta and 30,000 daily users, including “hundreds of thousands” of customers from AT&T and Verizon.

Finally, T-Mobile commercially launched its T-Satellite messaging service in July 2025, with around 650 Starlink satellites. The offering is now available at no extra cost to T-Mobile customers on the operator’s Experience Beyond plan (which starts at $100 per month). For other customers – including T-Mobile customers on other plans, as well as those of AT&T and Verizon – it’s available for an extra $10 per month. Non-T-Mobile customers can access the service via an eSIM.

Ookla Speedtest data captured throughout 2025 shows growing interest in T-Satellite:

Weekly Count of Devices Connected to Starlink D2D
From Speedtest data, December 2024 – September 2025
This is a chart that shows the growth of T-Mobile's T-Satellite.

As of September 2025, T-Mobile customers remained the biggest group of users connecting to SpaceX’s D2D satellites. But AT&T customers also show links to those satellites:

Percent share of Starlink D2D Device Connections, Active and Non Active Devices
From Speedtest data, December 2024 – September 2025
This is a chart that shows Starlink D2D Device connections. AT&T: 34%. T-Mobile: 60.9%

However, when only counting the Android devices that reported having active service (rather than counting both devices with active service as well as devices without) the figures are a bit different:

Percent share of Starlink D2D Connections on Devices with Active Service
From Speedtest data, December 2024 – October 2025

This fluctuation may simply be due to the fact that D2D is a relatively new technology and therefore device settings may vary depending on the gadget’s make, model, and operator settings.

Also, it’s possible that Verizon customers aren’t showing as much interest in T-Satellite because of Verizon’s 2024 agreement with Skylo. Skylo doesn’t operate its own satellites, but it does purchase connectivity from those that do, including Viasat, Ligado Networks, TerreStar and EchoStar.

Verizon began offering Skylo-powered text messaging in emergency situations in January 2025 on Samsung Galaxy S25 series smartphones. Since then it has added support for newer Google Pixel phones, and it expanded the service into regular, nonemergency situations.

AT&T, meanwhile, has an agreement with satellite operator AST SpaceMobile. That company hopes to begin offering intermittent satellite connections to AT&T and Verizon customers starting later this year. AST SpaceMobile has promised more continuous service in 2026 as it adds more satellites to its planned constellation.

National Forests and National Parks are Top Locations for D2D Users

This interactive map displays the locations where Speedtest data showed a Starlink D2D connection over the course of 2025:

And here is a list of the top five U.S. counties by total D2D device connections over the course of 2025:

Los Angeles County, California
Larimer County, Colorado
Teton County, Wyoming
Mohave County, Arizona
Mineral County, Montana

That Los Angeles County is the most popular location for T-Satellite D2D connections is interesting. Although the city of Los Angeles sits in the southern portion of Los Angeles County, California, the Angeles National Forest sits in the northern part. This remote area contains several wilderness zones, including the Cucamonga Wilderness, Magic Mountain Wilderness, and Pleasant View Ridge Wilderness, as well as a portion of the Pacific Crest Trail.

Cellular coverage throughout the northern portion of Los Angeles County is poor or nonexistant:

Map of Los Angeles County 5G Median Signal Strength: Pool and No Signals, All Providers, where dBm is -107 or worse), Speedtest Insights® | Q3 2025

Map of Los Angeles County 4G Median Signal Strength: Pool and No Signals, All Providers, where dBm is -107 or worse), Speedtest Insights® | Q3 2025

Los Angeles County has also been the scene of several major wildfires this year, including the Palisades and Eaton Fires in January 2025. In one of its first public D2D forays, T-Mobile delivered free Starlink D2D messaging to 198,000 users in areas affected by those January wildfires.

Other top D2D locations in the U.S. feature geographic characteristics similar to that of Los Angeles County. For example, Larimer County, Colorado, is located in the northern part of the state and contains parts of Rocky Mountain National Park and Roosevelt National Forest. Similarly, Teton County, Wyoming, is the home of Grand Teton National Park and a significant portion of Yellowstone National Park. And Mohave County, Arizona, includes parts of Grand Canyon National Park, Lake Mead National Recreation Area and the Mojave Desert. All of these areas sport at least some cellular dead zones.

D2D Connections are Relatively Rare

National forests and national parks are vacation destinations, visited occasionally. Based on Ookla Speedtest data, U.S. users are in reach of a cellular network the vast majority of the time.

Percent Time Spent Without Service
From Speedtest data, Full-Year 2024
This is a chart that shows percewnt time spent without service. AT&T T-Mobile and Verizon it's about 62% on Verizon for 4G, 27% for T-Mobile. For 5G it's 34% for Verizon and 69% for T-Mobile and 60% for AT&T. And it's like 2% for time spent with no service.

This data reflects the fact that homes, offices, coffee shops, schools and other familiar locations – in cities and towns with cellular coverage – are where most users spend the bulk of their time. It also highlights the impressive coverage provided by the 651,000 cell sites around the U.S. These sites – from massive cell towers to small cells atop light posts – cover most populated areas (while Wi-Fi covers most indoor locations).

The 2.79% of the time when the average U.S. user isn’t connected to a cellular network is where the D2D market can play. Clearly, 2.79% is a relatively small slice of time, but it may also represent the hours when an internet connection might be the most useful. Whether it’s a flat tire in the middle of nowhere or a broken ankle on a mountainside, users may place a value on a D2D satellite connection far in excess of the time they actually spend on it.

For example, in a recent survey of around 1,000 smartphone users, the financial analysts at TD Cowen found that more than 60% would pay at least $5 per month for some kind of satellite D2D service. That’s worth an additional $3 billion in additional annualized revenue for the U.S. wireless industry.

This is why so many companies are investing into the D2D industry. Lynk Global, AST SpaceMobile, Viasat and Iridium are among the companies planning or building satellite constellations for D2D services. Others, like Amazon’s Kuiper, may add D2D capabilities to their satellites at a later date.

That said, D2D market leaders aren’t standing still. SpaceX recently inked a $17 billion deal to acquire spectrum from EchoStar to help expand its D2D service beyond text messaging. And Apple is plowing $1.7 billion into its satellite partner Globalstar for the construction of a new satellite constellation with as-yet-unannounced capabilities.

SpaceX may have Big Plans for Starlink and D2D

SpaceX has been using its rocket-launching business to build out its Starlink satellite internet constellation, which now stretches across 8,000 satellites and roughly 7 million global fixed internet customers. SpaceX’s rockets add satellites to Starlink’s constellation on an almost daily basis.

However, Starlink’s D2D satellites are separate and apart from those dedicated to the company’s fixed internet business (although both types of satellites share the same backhaul links). This is why Starlink’s fixed internet speeds in the U.S. haven’t been affected by the testing and launch of T-Mobile’s T-Satellite service.

Starlink's U.S. Fixed Internet Monthly Performance
Speedtest Intelligence, January 2024 – August 2025
This is a chart that shows the growth in speeds of Starlink fixed internet. It was like 129 Mbps in August 2025.

This is important because SpaceX has so far received $478 million in grants from the U.S. government’s Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) program. That money is intended to bring fixed internet connections to almost 300,000 rural locations across the U.S.

Starlink’s D2D business currently runs over about 650 satellites. When those satellites orbit beyond the borders of the U.S., they’re used by other cellular operators in Starlink’s Direct to Cell program including Rogers (Canada), Optus (Australia), Telstra (Australia), KDDI (Japan), Entel (Chile & Peru) and Kyivstar (Ukraine). The service has proven so popular that New Zealand mobile operator One has reportedly expanded the amount of licensed spectrum it will run through Starlink’s satellites from 5 MHz to 15 MHz. And Starlink recently claimed 7 million D2D users globally.

But satellite-powered text messaging isn’t the end of Starlink’s D2D ambitions. Already T-Mobile and other Starlink partners are beginning to deploy some early data services. For T-Satellite users, those data services are restricted to select smartphone apps including AccuWeather, AllTrails, Google Maps, Google Messages, onX Backcountry, WhatsApp, X and Apple apps like Maps, Messages and Music. And T-Mobile is working to temper early users’ expectations.

“Satellite connections aren’t always instant – because satellites move overhead, your phone may need a moment to find one,” T-Mobile warns. “If you don’t see signal right away, just give it a little time and try again. This isn’t high speed data, but it’s built for what matters most off grid.”

SpaceX is working to speed things up. With the $17 billion in spectrum it purchased from EchoStar, SpaceX says it expects to ultimately provide D2D data speeds generally comparable to those on 4G LTE networks. According to Ookla Speedtest Intelligence, 4G operators in the U.S. provided 33 Mbps median download speeds and 4 Mbps median upload speeds in 2024.

SpaceX has already asked the FCC for permission to launch as many as 15,000 D2D satellites in pursuit of this objective. The company must also work with phone vendors to ensure its new spectrum licenses are supported in future phones.

Should existing cellular operators worry about all this? Maybe, according to SpaceX’s Elon Musk. When asked whether Starlink could become a global phone carrier in the future, “that would be one of the options,” Musk replied. But he added that “we’re not going to put the other carriers out of business. They’re still going to be around because they own a lot of spectrum. But yes, you should be able to have Starlink like you have an AT&T, or T-Mobile, or Verizon or whatever.”

When asked the same question in a different venue, SpaceX’s Gwynne Shotwell was a little more circumspect: “We will be initiating discussions with telcos in a different way now,” she said. “It’s our spectrum, but we want to work with them, almost providing wholesale capacity to their customers. We have to work with the device manufacturers, the chip companies, and working with telcos on the end game. It’s really exciting, but it’s a huge amount of work.”

About the author

Mike Dano

Ookla Research™ Articles

Mike Dano | October 6, 2025

Latam Fiber Operators Risk Stumbling over Outdated Wi-Fi

Speedy networks in Latin America could be hindered if operators don’t embrace newer Wi-Fi standards.

Spanish/Español

Fiber networks are becoming increasingly available across Latin American countries. That’s clearly a boon to residents in the region looking for speedy internet connections. After all, fiber typically outperforms all other telecommunications access technologies – and as a result they often serve as a backbone for Wi-Fi access points.

That said, the rise of fiber across Latin America faces challenges, not the least of which is outdated Wi-Fi standards. As fiber brings faster connections, providers must look to upgrade their users to more capable Wi-Fi technologies.

Key takeaways:

The full capabilities available through fiber networks cannot be achieved with outdated Wi-Fi standards. For example, the Wi-Fi 5 protocol tops out at 6.9 Gbps – well below the 10 Gbps speeds some operators in Latin America are offering.
The Wi-Fi 6 standard promises to significantly improve customers’ speeds. Already some Wi-Fi 6 users in Latin America enjoy 10x the median download speeds of their Wi-Fi 4 counterparts. Chile and Uruguay lead on the adoption of Wi-Fi 6 in Latin America.
Some fiber operators in the region still maintain large numbers of Wi-Fi 4 connections – up to a third of their customer base in some cases, per Speedtest results. And Huawei and TP-Link are the top Wi-Fi 4 router brands. This information could help operators identify areas in need of investments.
The combination of fiber networks and newer, more capable Wi-Fi connections can help operators score direct revenues through the sale of faster pricing tiers as well as indirect revenues through improved customer satisfaction and superior brand reputation.

Latin America is a hotbed of fiber

The rise of fiber is clear in data from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), an international association that works with governments to create evidence-based standards to tackle global economic, social and environmental challenges.

The Growth of Fiber in Latin America
Percent share of fiber and DSL in fixed broadband subscriptions, 2009-2023, per OECD

Fiber subscriptions in México, Chile, Colombia and Costa Rica grew 258% over the previous four years, according to 2024 data from the OECD. Brazil – Latin America’s most populous country – was fifth in an OECD global ranking of the year-over-year increase in fixed broadband subscriptions per 100 inhabitants, from June 2023 to June 2024.

This transition to fiber is reflected in Speedtest Intelligence© results for Latin America’s most populated countries:

Fixed Internet Speeds in Latin America's Most Populous Countries
From Speedtest Intelligence, 2021 – 2025

However, the market for fiber in Latin America is punctuated by plenty of unique circumstances and local flavors.

For example, recent data from Brazil’s telecom regulator, Anatel, shows that 77.2% of Brazil’s fixed internet connections were fiber-based as of November 2024. That’s up 8.8% from the year prior. But some of the region’s major telecom network operators – like Telefónica’s Vivo (with 17.6% market share in Brazil) and América Móvil’s Claro (with 4.6% market share in Brazil) – are competing with the country’s many “pequeños proveedores.” These are the small and regional internet service providers (ISPs) that collectively account for an extraordinary 67% of all fiber connections in Brazil. These smaller players have proven agile in selling fiber to medium-sized cities and underserved areas, often outpacing big, traditional incumbents.

Meanwhile, in México, the transition to fiber is being driven by large, international telecom players. For example, Claro holds a 40% market share in fixed broadband connections in México and has successfully migrated around 85% of its broadband customers to fiber. The results of this work are clear: Ookla recently revealed that median download speeds in México have more than tripled over the past five years across all fixed ISPs.

Finally, in countries like Colombia, Chile and Brazil, the neutral host networking business model is expanding via providers like On Net Fibra and V.tal. Under that model, a single company builds and operates a shared fiber network that is then leased to multiple other service providers.

Regardless of such regional differences, the result is the same: More fiber. This progress can be clearly seen in Bogotá, Colombia, via Ookla’s Speedtest Insights©. The below map shows the overall rise in fixed network speeds across the city during the past six months of 2025, compared with the same period in 2024:

Map of Fixed Network Speed ?improvements in Bogota, Colombia

The value of Wi-Fi upgrades

The rise of fiber in Latin America creates a path for ISPs in the region to profit from the sale of faster service plans with better features and more reliable connections. However, a customer’s Wi-Fi network can hamstring this momentum.

To illustrate this situation, let’s compare the performance of fiber-based Speedtest Intelligence samples from devices connected via Ethernet vs. those using Wi-Fi. Results show that, in general, users who bypass Wi-Fi with an Ethernet cable may double their download speeds:

Fiber Network Performance by Access Technology, Ethernet vs. Wi-Fi
Speedtest Intelligence data for Brazil, August 2024-2025

However, few internet surfers want to plug their computer into a wire. In terms of Speedtest samples, Wi-Fi is roughly 20 times more popular than Ethernet.

Now, here’s where things get interesting. Since Wi-Fi is the preferred way for customers to connect to a fiber access point, the version of Wi-Fi they use becomes critical. And, not surprisingly, newer technologies can speed things up.

For example, Mundo in Chile currently offers 10 Gbps service plans. And – incredibly – it’s rolling out plans that provide speeds up to 50 Gbps. As noted by Wi-Fi router vendor TP-Link and chip vendor Intel, customers won’t be able to access those speeds without using the latest version of Wi-Fi. Here are the theoretical maximum speeds available across various Wi-Fi standards (users’ normal speeds are generally much lower than the theoretical maximum):

Thus, subscribing to Mundo’s 50 Gbps plan while using a Wi-Fi 4 router would be like eating a steak dinner through a straw: You’d get what you need, but not what you’d want.

Broadly, here’s what Ookla is seeing in the deployment of newer Wi-Fi technologies across Latin America:

Chile and Uruguay are Leading Latin America's Wi-Fi 6 Deployments
Percent of Wi-Fi samples in Speedtest Intelligence, H1 2025

Chile and Uruguay show a lead in the adoption of the Wi-Fi 6 standard. However, Wi-Fi 4 still represents at least a fifth of connections, and remains above 40% in markets in Central America, as well as in Argentina, Paraguay and Venezuela.

Speedtest users’ speeds clearly track with the type of Wi-Fi they’re using:

Wi-Fi 6 Shows the Fastest Speeds
Speedtest Intelligence, Q2 2025

To be clear, it’s reasonable to assume that slower networking technologies like xDSL might be underpinning many Wi-Fi 4 connections, while Wi-Fi 6 connections may lean more toward fiber networks.

Nonetheless, here are the operators in Latin America with more than 30% of their test samples using Wi-Fi 6:

Fiber Operators with High Wi-Fi 6 Usage
Speedtest Intelligence, Q2 2025

The Wi-Fi 6 standard introduces several key technologies to improve performance including orthogonal frequency-division multiple access (OFDMA), which allows a single channel to serve multiple devices simultaneously. The standard also sports a more efficient modulation scheme (1024-QAM) and BSS Coloring, which helps networks in the same area coexist.

And, like most technologies, Wi-Fi continues to evolve. The standard’s latest iteration – Wi-Fi 7 – is just now beginning to appear in Latin America, but only in tiny slivers. For example, just 0.1% of the samples from America Movil in Brazil and México show Wi-Fi 7 capabilities. This is likely due to some early adopters among the operator’s customer base. A few other operators in Latin America are also showing some Wi-Fi 7 usage, but mostly in numbers that are not statistically relevant because the sample size is too small.

The same goes for Wi-Fi 6 connections in the 6 GHz band (most Wi-Fi operations in Latin America are in the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands). Only Vivo in Brazil registers a statistically relevant number of Wi-Fi 6 samples in the 6 GHz band (called 6E), at 0.1% of the operator’s tests. This finding is noteworthy because there’s an ongoing debate among regulators in the region about how to handle the 6 GHz band. Some cellular operators want some or all of the band to be set aside exclusively for licensed 5G and 6G operations. Meanwhile, some Wi-Fi proponents prefer the band be allocated to unlicensed uses, like Wi-Fi. Brazil’s regulator, Anatel, initially set aside the entire 6 GHz band for unlicensed Wi-Fi in 2021, but in recent months has proposed reserving the upper portion of the band for licensed cellular networks. Some other countries in Latin America are debating similar moves.

Weeding out slower Wi-Fi

Speedtest samples from the below operators have two key characteristics: They show a median latency under 16 ms (suggesting a fiber network) and more than a third of their tests were conducted over Wi-Fi 4. With the exception of HV in Colombia, tests from all of these operators were in Brazil:

Latin American Fiber Operators with High W-Fi 4 Usage
Speedtest Intelligence, Q2 2025

If these operators upgrade their customers’ Wi-Fi routers to support newer versions of the Wi-Fi standard – or at least communicate the situation – they could dramatically improve their customers’ experiences.

Looking at the distribution of Wi-Fi 4 samples by router manufacturer, Huawei and TP-Link emerge as the top brands across Latin America. However, their popularity varies by market, which is no surprise considering users could be getting their routers through their operator, through a third-party merchant or through some other source. Further, users’ experiences can be affected by any additional Wi-Fi extenders or repeaters they may be using.

Top Wi-Fi 4 Router Manufacturers in Latin America
Sample Percents by Manufacturer, Speedtest Intelligence, Q2 2025

Nonetheless, this information is important because Speedtest users prefer more advanced Wi-Fi standards. For example, users in México gave their Wi-Fi 4 connections a 2.9 satisfaction ranking (out of 5) in the first half of this year. For Wi-Fi 5 users, that ranking was 4.2.

And Wi-Fi 6 users in México reported satisfaction levels of 4.7, or 94%.

Wi-Fi 7 advances in international markets

The adoption of Wi-Fi 7 on a global scale is still in its early stages, but it is showing signs of growth in certain regions.

For example, in the first quarter of 2025, Wi-Fi 7’s share of fixed samples in the United States was less than 2%, though this represented a significant increase from the previous quarter. And in Europe, countries like France, Switzerland and Denmark were at the forefront of Wi-Fi 7 adoption by the end of 2024, with France leading with a 1.5% Speedtest sample share. This is primarily due to ISPs that include Wi-Fi 7 routers as part of their service bundles.

Like Latin America, some fiber-rich countries in Europe – such as Spain, Portugal and Ireland – still have a large base of older Wi-Fi 4 and Wi-Fi 5 connections.

As Latin American operators continue their march toward widespread fiber adoption, the full promise of these ultra-fast networks can only be realized if Wi-Fi technology keeps pace. The combination of fast fiber networks and speedy Wi-Fi connections can allow operators to sell increasingly competitive tiered service plans as well as gain enhanced customer loyalty and brand reputation.

By strategically upgrading outdated Wi-Fi 4 connections and actively promoting the benefits of newer standards like Wi-Fi 6 and Wi-Fi 7, providers can ensure their fiber revolution translates into a better internet experience for every user.

Here is this same article translated into Spanish:

Los operadores de fibra óptica de Latinoamérica corren el riesgo de tropezar con el Wi-Fi obsoleto

Las redes de alta velocidad en América Latina podrían verse con dificultades si los operadores no adoptan los nuevos estándares Wi-Fi.

Las redes de fibra óptica están cada vez más disponibles en los países de América Latina. Esto supone claramente una ventaja para los residentes de la región que buscan conexiones rápidas a Internet. Al fin y al cabo, la fibra óptica suele superar a todas las demás tecnologías de acceso a las telecomunicaciones y, como resultado, a menudo sirve de columna vertebral para los puntos de acceso Wi-Fi.

Sin embargo, el auge de la fibra en América Latina se enfrenta a retos, entre los que destaca el de los estándares Wi-Fi obsoletos. Dado que la fibra ofrece conexiones más rápidas, los proveedores deben buscar actualizar a sus usuarios a tecnologías Wi-Fi más capaces.

Conclusiones clave:

Las capacidades completas disponibles a través de las redes de fibra óptica no se pueden alcanzar con estándares Wi-Fi obsoletos. Por ejemplo, el protocolo Wi-Fi 5 alcanza un máximo de 6,9 Gbps, muy por debajo de las velocidades de 10 Gbps que ofrecen algunos operadores en América Latina.
El estándar Wi-Fi 6 promete mejorar significativamente las velocidades de los clientes. Algunos usuarios de Wi-Fi 6 en América Latina ya disfrutan de velocidades de descarga 10 veces superiores a la mediana de sus homólogos de Wi-Fi 4. Chile y Uruguay lideran la adopción de Wi-Fi 6 en América Latina.
Algunos operadores de fibra de la región siguen manteniendo un gran número de conexiones Wi-Fi 4, hasta un tercio de su base de clientes en algunos casos, según los resultados de Speedtest. Y Huawei y TP-Link son las principales marcas de routers Wi-Fi 4. Esta información podría ayudar a los operadores a identificar las áreas que necesitan inversiones.
La combinación de redes de fibra y conexiones Wi-Fi más nuevas y capaces puede ayudar a los operadores a obtener ingresos directos mediante la venta de tarifas más rápidas, así como ingresos indirectos gracias a la mejora de la satisfacción del cliente y la reputación superior de la marca.

Latinoamérica es un hervidero de fibra

El auge de la fibra es evidente en los datos de la Organización para la Cooperación y el Desarrollo Económicos (OCDE), una asociación internacional que colabora con los gobiernos para crear normas basadas en datos empíricos con el fin de abordar los retos económicos, sociales y medioambientales a nivel mundial.

El crecimiento de la fibra en América Latina
Porcentaje de fibra y DSL en las suscripciones de ancho de banda fijo, 2009-2023, por OECD

Las suscripciones a la fibra óptica en México, Chile, Colombia y Costa Rica crecieron un 258% en los últimos cuatro años, según datos de la OCDE para 2024. Brasil, el país más poblado de América Latina, ocupó el quinto lugar en la clasificación mundial de la OCDE sobre el aumento interanual de las suscripciones a banda ancha fija por cada 100 habitantes, entre junio de 2023 y junio de 2024.

Esta transición a la fibra se refleja en los resultados de Speedtest Intelligence© para los países más poblados de América Latina:

Velocidades de internet fijas en los países más poblados de América Latina
De Speedtest Intelligence, 2021-2025

Sin embargo, el mercado de la fibra en América Latina se caracteriza por numerosas circunstancias únicas y particularidades locales.

Por ejemplo, datos recientes del regulador de telecomunicaciones de Brasil, Anatel, muestran que el 77,2% de las conexiones fijas a Internet en Brasil en noviembre de 2024 eran de fibra óptica. Esto supone un aumento del 8,8% con respecto al año anterior. Pero algunos de los principales operadores de redes de telecomunicaciones de la región, como Vivo de Telefónica (con una cuota de mercado del 17,6% en Brasil) y Claro de América Móvil (con una cuota de mercado del 4,6% en Brasil), compiten con los numerosos «pequeños proveedores» del país. Se trata de pequeños proveedores de servicios de Internet (ISP) regionales que, en conjunto, representan un extraordinario 67% de todas las conexiones de fibra óptica en Brasil. Estos pequeños operadores han demostrado su agilidad a la hora de vender fibra óptica a ciudades medianas y zonas desatendidas, superando a menudo a los grandes operadores tradicionales.

Mientras tanto, en México, la transición a la fibra está siendo impulsada por grandes operadores internacionales de telecomunicaciones. Por ejemplo, Claro tiene una cuota de mercado del 40% en conexiones de banda ancha fija en México y ha migrado con éxito alrededor del 85% de sus clientes de banda ancha a la fibra. Los resultados de este trabajo son evidentes: Ookla reveló recientemente que la velocidad media de descarga en México se ha más que triplicado en los últimos cinco años en todos los ISP fijos.

Por último, en países como Colombia, Chile y Brasil, el modelo de negocio de redes de neutral host se está expandiendo a través de proveedores como On Net Fibra y V.tal. En este modelo, una sola empresa construye y opera una red de fibra compartida que luego se alquila a otros proveedores de servicios.

Independientemente de estas diferencias regionales, el resultado es el mismo: más fibra. Este progreso se puede ver claramente en Bogotá, Colombia, a través de Speedtest Insights© de Ookla. El siguiente mapa muestra el aumento general de las velocidades de la red fija en toda la ciudad durante los últimos seis meses de 2025, en comparación con el mismo período de 2024:

Mapa de Mejoras en la velocidad de la red fija en Bototá, Colombia

El valor de las mejoras en la conexión Wi-Fi

El auge de la fibra en América Latina abre el camino para que los ISP de la región se beneficien de la venta de planes de servicio más rápidos, con mejores prestaciones y conexiones más fiables. Sin embargo, la red Wi-Fi de un cliente puede frenar este impulso.

Para ilustrar esta situación, comparemos el rendimiento de las muestras de Speedtest Intelligence realizadas sobre una red de fibra óptica desde dispositivos conectados a través de Ethernet con las hechas desde dispositivos que utilizan Wi-Fi. Los resultados muestran que, en general, los usuarios que evitan el Wi-Fi con un cable Ethernet pueden duplicar sus velocidades de descarga:

Rendimiento red de fibra por tecnología de acceso: Ethernet vs. Wi-Fi
Datos de Speedtest Intelligence para Brasil, agosto 2024-2025

Sin embargo, pocos internautas quieren conectar su ordenador a un cable. En términos de muestras de Speedtest, el Wi-Fi es aproximadamente 20 veces más popular que el Ethernet.

Ahora es cuando la cosa se pone interesante. Dado que el Wi-Fi es la forma preferida por los clientes para conectarse a un punto de acceso de fibra, la versión de Wi-Fi que utilizan se convierte en un factor crítico. Y, como es lógico, las tecnologías más nuevas pueden acelerar las cosas.

Por ejemplo, Mundo ofrece actualmente planes de servicio de 10 Gbps en Chile. Y, aunque parezca increíble, se está preparando para lanzar planes que proporcionan velocidades de hasta 50 Gbps. Como señala el proveedor de routers Wi-Fi TP-Link, los clientes no podrán acceder a esas velocidades sin utilizar la última versión de Wi-Fi. Estas son las velocidades máximas disponibles en los distintos estándares Wi-Fi:

Por lo tanto, suscribirse al plan de 50 Gbps de Mundo mientras se usa un router Wi-Fi 4 sería como comer un bistec con una pajita: obtendrías lo que necesitas, pero no lo que quieres.

En términos generales, esto es lo que Ookla está observando en la implementación de nuevas tecnologías Wi-Fi en Latinoamérica:

Chile y Uruguay lideran los despliegues de Wi-Fi 6 en Latinoamérica
Porcentaje de muestras de Wi-Fi en Speedtest Intelligence, primer sem. 2025

Chile y Uruguay lideran la adopción del estándar Wi-Fi 6. Sin embargo, Wi-Fi 4 aún representa al menos una quinta parte de las conexiones y se mantiene por encima del 40% en los mercados de Centroamérica, así como en Argentina, Paraguay y Venezuela.

Las velocidades de los usuarios de Speedtest se corresponden claramente con el tipo de Wi-Fi que utilizan:

Wi-Fi 6 muestra las velocidades más rápidas
Speedtest Intelligence, Q2 2025

Para ser claros, es razonable suponer que tecnologías de red más lentas, como xDSL, podrían estar respaldando muchas conexiones Wi-Fi 4, mientras que las conexiones Wi-Fi 6 podrían inclinarse más hacia las redes de fibra.

No obstante, estos son los operadores en Latinoamérica con más del 30% de sus muestras de Speedtest utilizando Wi-Fi 6:

Operadores de fibra con alto uso de Wi-Fi 6
Speedtest Intelligence, segundo trimestre 2025

El estándar Wi-Fi 6 introduce varias tecnologías clave para mejorar el rendimiento, entre las que se incluyen el acceso múltiple por división de frecuencia ortogonal (OFDMA), que permite que un solo canal atienda a múltiples dispositivos simultáneamente. El estándar también incorpora un esquema de modulación más eficiente (1024-QAM) y coloración BSS, que facilita la coexistencia de redes en la misma área.

Y, como la mayoría de las tecnologías, el Wi-Fi continúa evolucionando. La última versión del estándar, Wi-Fi 7, apenas comienza a aparecer en Latinoamérica, pero solo en pequeñas porciones. Por ejemplo, solo el 0,1% de las muestras de América Móvil en Brasil y México muestran capacidades de Wi-Fi 7. Esto probablemente se deba a algunos usuarios pioneros entre la base de clientes del operador. Algunos otros operadores en Latinoamérica también muestran cierto uso de Wi-Fi 7, pero principalmente en cifras que no son estadísticamente relevantes debido a que el tamaño de la muestra es demasiado pequeño.

Lo mismo ocurre con las conexiones Wi-Fi 6 en la banda de 6 GHz (la mayoría de las operaciones de Wi-Fi en Latinoamérica se realizan en las bandas de 2,4 GHz y 5 GHz). Sólo Vivo en Brasil registra una cantidad estadísticamente relevante de muestras de Wi-Fi 6 en la banda de 6 GHz (denominada 6E), con un 0,1% de las pruebas del operador. Este hallazgo es destacable porque existe un debate en curso entre los reguladores de la región sobre cómo gestionar la banda de 6 GHz. Algunos operadores celulares quieren que parte o la totalidad de la banda se reserve exclusivamente para operaciones 5G y 6G con licencia. Mientras tanto, algunos defensores de Wi-Fi prefieren que la banda se asigne a usos sin licencia, como el Wi-Fi. El regulador brasileño, Anatel, inicialmente reservó toda la banda de 6 GHz para Wi-Fi sin licencia en 2021, pero en los últimos meses ha propuesto reservar la parte superior de la banda para redes celulares con licencia. Algunos otros países de Latinoamérica están debatiendo medidas similares.

Eliminando las redes Wi-Fi más lentas

Las pruebas de velocidad de los operadores mencionados a continuación presentan dos características clave: muestran una latencia media inferior a 16 ms (lo que sugiere una red de fibra óptica) y más de un tercio de sus pruebas se realizaron con Wi-Fi 4. Con la excepción de HV en Colombia, las pruebas de todos estos operadores se realizaron en Brasil.

Operadores de fibra de América Latina con alto uso de Wi-Fi 4
Speedtest Intelligence, segundo trimestre 2025

Si estos operadores actualizan los routers Wi-Fi de sus clientes para que sean compatibles con las versiones más recientes del estándar Wi-Fi, o al menos les informan al respecto, podrían mejorar drásticamente la experiencia de sus clientes.

Al observar la distribución de muestras de Wi-Fi 4 por fabricante de routers, Huawei y TP-Link emergen como las marcas líderes en Latinoamérica. Sin embargo, su popularidad varía según el mercado, lo cual no sorprende considerando que los usuarios pueden adquirir sus routers a través de su operador, de un tercero o de otra fuente. Además, la experiencia de los usuarios puede verse afectada por cualquier extensor o repetidor Wi-Fi adicional que puedan estar utilizando.

Top 4 de fabricantes de routers en América Latina
Porcentaje por fabricante, Speedtest Intelligence, segundo trimestre 2025

Sin embargo, esta información es importante porque los usuarios de Speedtest prefieren estándares de Wi-Fi más avanzados. Por ejemplo, los usuarios de México otorgaron a sus conexiones de Wi-Fi 4 una calificación de satisfacción de 2.9 (sobre 5) en el primer semestre de este año. Para los usuarios de Wi-Fi 5, esa calificación fue de 4.2.

Y los usuarios de Wi-Fi 6 en México, por su parte, reportaron niveles de satisfacción de 4.7, o 94%.

Wi-Fi 7 avanza en los mercados internacionales

La adopción de Wi-Fi 7 a escala global aún se encuentra en sus primeras etapas, pero muestra signos de crecimiento en ciertas regiones.

Por ejemplo, en el primer trimestre de 2025, la cuota de Wi-Fi 7 en muestras fijas en Estados Unidos fue inferior al 2%, aunque esto representó un aumento significativo con respecto al trimestre anterior. En Europa, países como Francia, Suiza y Dinamarca lideraron la adopción de Wi-Fi 7 a finales de 2024, con Francia a la cabeza con una cuota de muestras de Speedtest del 1,5%. Esto se debe principalmente a los ISP que incluyen routers Wi-Fi 7 en sus paquetes de servicios.

Al igual que Latinoamérica, algunos países europeos con abundante fibra, como España, Portugal e Irlanda, aún cuentan con una amplia base de conexiones Wi-Fi 4 y Wi-Fi 5 antiguas.

A medida que los operadores latinoamericanos avanzan hacia la adopción generalizada de la fibra, la plena efectividad de estas redes ultrarrápidas solo se podrá materializar si la tecnología Wi-Fi se mantiene al día. La combinación de redes de fibra rápidas y conexiones Wi-Fi veloces permite a los operadores ofrecer planes de servicio por niveles cada vez más competitivos, además de mejorar la fidelidad de los clientes y la reputación de la marca.

Al actualizar estratégicamente las conexiones Wi-Fi 4 obsoletas y promover activamente las ventajas de estándares más recientes como Wi-Fi 6 y Wi-Fi 7, los proveedores pueden garantizar que su revolución de la fibra se traduzca en una mejor experiencia de internet para cada usuario.

About the author

Mike Dano

Ookla Research™ Articles

Mike Dano | September 18, 2025

Boost Mobile: What the U.S. is Losing

The operator’s network covers a number of major U.S. cities and offers speeds slightly slower than what other 5G providers supply.

EchoStar, the company behind Boost Mobile, is planning to decommission portions of its wireless network following its recent deals with AT&T and SpaceX. Here’s a look at some of the capabilities of that network before it passes into history.

Key Takeaways:

Based on Ookla Speedtest Intelligence® data, EchoStar’s Boost Mobile network provided 5G median download speeds that were slightly slower than those of its rivals, including AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile.
In Ookla RootMetrics® drive tests, Boost phones connected to the company’s wireless network around 83% of the time in U.S. metropolitan areas. In locations where they did not connect to the Boost Mobile network, they primarily connected to AT&T’s network.
Boost phones used EchoStar’s 600 MHz spectrum 86.8% of the time when they weren’t roaming, making that band the company’s most-used spectrum band.
Boost phones connected to at least 50 MHz of overall spectrum capacity in roughly half of all tests. In comparison, Boost’s rivals have deployed much more overall spectrum.

Boost Mobile Speeds are Below the U.S. Average

Dish Network – what is today EchoStar – purchased 9 million Boost Mobile customers in 2019 as part of a deal with T-Mobile and the U.S. Department of Justice.

Under that agreement, EchoStar was required to build a nationwide wireless network. The goal was to have EchoStar replace Sprint as the fourth nationwide wireless provider in the U.S.

In the years since that deal, EchoStar built a network covering roughly 80% of the U.S. population. EchoStar’s network also uses innovative open Radio Access Network (O-RAN) configurations and novel vendors including Amazon Web Services (AWS).

But now that effort is done.

“The Dish Mobile experiment is over,” wrote the financial analysts at TD Cowen in a recent note to investors following EchoStar’s deals with AT&T and SpaceX. “Its grand ambitions are dead,” agreed Recon Analytics analyst Roger Entner.

According to Ookla’s Speedtest Intelligence data – which stems from Speedtest user results – Boost’s network provided upload and download speeds slightly slower than those of its rivals. And Boost’s multi-server latency measurements were slightly higher. These findings are in line with what Ookla Research reported in May of this year.

Boost Mobile's 5G Median Download, Upload and Multi-Server Latency
From Speedtest Intelligence, August 2024 – August 2025

And what of Boost Mobile’s network coverage? Data from Ookla’s Speedtest Insights® – which relies on both foreground and background network tests – paints a picture of Boost’s network reach:

The above map shows Boost’s median 5G signal strength. Median signal strength reflects the power of an operator’s radio signal received by the device from the cell tower. Higher signal levels generally indicate the device is closer to a tower and increase the potential for good speed and the ability to make voice and video calls without dropping – which is all subject to network capacity and quality.

However, this map doesn’t highlight the differences between Boost’s own network and those of its roaming partners. Instead, it’s a representation of the experience Boost Mobile customers receive.

Boost’s network reach – and its reliance on its roaming partners – is covered in the next section.

AT&T is Boost’s Primary Roaming Partner

RootMetrics is another arm of Ookla that conducts controlled testing of mobile networks across the entire U.S. twice a year, as well as globally. These tests stretch from interstate thoroughfares to city-level drive tests to walking tests, both inside and outside. These tests can provide a deeper, more technical look into an operator’s wireless network operations.

RootMetrics tested Boost’s network in 125 U.S. metropolitan areas in the first half of 2025, and 28 in the second half of 2025 (prior to EchoStar’s announcements with AT&T and SpaceX). RootMetrics also tested Boost’s network along 50 rural state routes in the first half of 2025 and 11 in the second half of 2025.

The parameters of Boost’s roaming relationships with AT&T and T-Mobile emerged as a key finding in the data. In order to supplement its own network coverage, Boost inked roaming deals with both AT&T and T-Mobile.

According to test results, Boost relies heavily on AT&T’s network, often connecting to it in U.S. metropolitan areas and using it the majority of the time along rural state routes.

Boost Mobile Roaming
Percent of RootMetrics 2025 testing results in 28 U.S. metropolitan areas and 11 rural state routes

These results aren’t necessarily surprising. Boost first constructed its network in large U.S. cities and then expanded out from those locations. As a result, it generally does not cover rural routes outside major U.S. cities.

Further, based on 2H 2025 testing results, Boost had not yet launched its network in some major cities in California. As a result, it roamed extensively onto AT&T’s network in those markets.

Some markets with Boost service sported a relatively high percentage of roaming onto AT&T’s network, including Denver (tests there connected to AT&T’s network 12% of the time) and Phoenix (tests there connected to AT&T’s network 16% of the time). In other markets, like Las Vegas and St. Louis, Boost tests connected to Boost’s network 99% of the time.

Overall, Boost’s network stretches across roughly 24,000 cell sites. That’s around a third of the number of cell sites deployed by the other nationwide U.S. operators.

Boost Mainly Uses Lowband 600 MHz Spectrum

A final element in this evaluation of Boost’s progress involves the company’s use of its spectrum holdings.

Boost constructed its network across three spectrum bands: Band n71 (600 MHz), Band n66 (AWS) and Band n70 (AWS-4). EchoStar owns licenses in other spectrum bands – including 3.5 GHz CBRS and 3.45 GHz – but it hasn’t deployed the radio equipment necessary to put those bands into action.

Again, testing data provides insights into how Boost makes use of its spectrum holdings.

Boost Mobile Spectrum Usage
RootMetrics 2H 2025 testing in 28 U.S. metropolitan areas

The reason this adds up to more than 100% is because modern smartphones can connect to multiple spectrum bands at the same time, and aggregate them.

Regardless, these findings are noteworthy because they help show the “workhorse” spectrum bands in an operator’s network. And it’s not surprising that 600 MHz plays a primary role in Boost’s network; due to the physics of wireless communications, signals in lowband spectrum like 600 MHz propagate farther than signals in higher frequencies. Thus, 600 MHz helped Boost meet the FCC’s network-buildout requirements.

Spectrum “depth” is another way to measure Boost’s spectrum usage. The amount of spectrum in use in an operator’s network often directly relates to the speeds that operator can provide.

Around 43% of Boost tests connected with 50 MHz of overall spectrum capacity. Around 16% of tests connected with a total of 60 MHz of spectrum.

Boost Mobile Spectrum Depth
RootMetrics 2H 2025 testing in 28 U.S. metropolitan areas

To put that into perspective, other nationwide U.S. wireless operators have deployed far more overall spectrum. For example, more than half of AT&T’s tests connected with more than 80 MHz of spectrum. For T-Mobile, that figure is 210 MHz.

One final measurement of Boost’s network involves carrier aggregation. In 2H 2025 tests, Boost made extensive use of carrier aggregation technology. For example, more than half of all Boost tests connected to between three and four aggregated channels. In comparison, more than half of Verizon’s tests used two-channel carrier aggregation in 2H 2025, while more than half of T-Mobile’s tests used four-channel carrier aggregation.

Carrier aggregation is a key wireless technology that combines multiple separate frequency bands into a single, wider channel to significantly increase network speed, capacity and coverage.

What’s Next?

EchoStar recently agreed to sell its AWS-4 and H-Block spectrum licenses to SpaceX for $17 billion. Separately, it said it will sell its 3.45 GHz and 600 MHz spectrum licenses to AT&T for $23 billion.

AT&T officials have suggested the operator will be able to activate the 3.45 GHz spectrum with a software upgrade, and that the operator may use the spectrum to fortify its fixed wireless services. But AT&T will need to deploy new radios to put the 600 MHz spectrum into action.

It’s possible that, instead of putting the 600 MHz into its own network, AT&T might sell that spectrum in order to obtain more 3.45 GHz spectrum.

As of June 30, 2025, Boost counted a total of 7.357 million wireless customers. It’s likely that EchoStar will manage those Boost Mobile customers using its existing core network while shifting them onto AT&T’s physical radio access wireless network. That would allow EchoStar to dismantle its own physical wireless network.

EchoStar also plans to allow its Boost customers to roam onto SpaceX’s Starlink satellite network. However, SpaceX must first deploy new satellites that support AWS-4 and H-Block spectrum. And it will take several years for new phones to arrive in the market with support for satellite connections in those bands.

It’s also likely that EchoStar will sell its remaining spectrum holdings, such as its AWS and CBRS licenses, to a company like Verizon.

To find out more about Speedtest Intelligence® data and insights, visit our website.

About the author

Mike Dano

Ookla Research™ Articles

Mike Dano | September 4, 2025

Starlink Slows Down during Burning Man

SpaceX’s satellite network showed signs of congestion in Nevada’s Pershing County last week.

Starlink today uses around 8,000 low Earth orbit (LEO) satellites to provide Internet connections to roughly 7 million customers around the world. But an event in the desert of Nevada last week collected enough Starlink users in one place to create a measurable effect on the company’s network in the region.

Key Takeaways:

A large number of Starlink users gathered in rural Nevada for the annual Burning Man event.
Starlink’s daily speeds in the area slowed to a low of 66 Mbps during Burning Man, but rose as the event wrapped up.
The annual Burning Man event draws enough Starlink users to affect Nevada’s statewide Starlink speeds.

Starlink satellite Internet connections have become increasingly popular at the Burning Man desert arts festival, a nine-day event that occurs annually. The festival attracted around 70,000 attendees last week. According to Ookla Speedtest Intelligence data, Starlink’s speeds slowed slightly amid Burning Man demand.

Specifically, Starlink download speeds surpassed 200 Mbps in Pershing County, Nevada – where Burning Man takes place every August – in the days leading up to the event. But during the actual Burning Man event itself – which took place from August 24 to September 1 – Starlink speeds dipped well below 100 Mbps. On August 28, Starlink speeds hit a daily low point of 66 Mbps, but then began to rise again as the event drew to a close.

It’s worth noting that, while there was a dip in speeds, Starlink users at Burning Man still received Internet speeds in rural Nevada that were faster than what some 5G networks provide in major US cities.

Starlink daily download speeds during Burning Man
In Pershing County, Nevada, USA. Burning Man was held August 24 – September 1.

Burning Man Goes Online

According to a Wall Street Journal report, Starlink services have become increasingly popular at recent Burning Man gatherings, and were prevalent across this year’s 1,500 Burning Man camps and art installations.

The event is big enough to earn itself a listing on Google Maps, and that location information is reflected in Ookla Speedtest Intelligence data for the month of August:

Moreover, Ookla recorded a major spike in the number of Speedtest users in Nevada’s Pershing County during the week of Burning Man. That’s no surprise considering Pershing County’s annual population sits at around 6,000, but spikes by 11x during the week of Burning Man.

Finally, it’s worth noting that a dip in Starlink speeds in Pershing County – one of more than a dozen counties in Nevada – also occurred last year during Burning Man. Indeed, Nevada’s median statewide Starlink speeds also dipped during the month of August 2024, mainly because of the network demands created by last year’s Burning Man during that month. But Starlink’s speeds across the entire United States were not affected.

Starlink monthly median download speeds
Burning Man is held annually at the end of August.

Network Loading

The dip in Starlink’s speeds last week was likely due to the loading that the company’s network experienced during Burning Man.

After all, a wireless network like Starlink’s satellite network is a shared resource, much like any other telecom network. As more users connect to such a network, they all compete for access to the same limited bandwidth. This competition can lead to a decrease in network performance, as the available bandwidth is divided among an increasing number of devices. Consequently, if too many users are streaming video, downloading large files, or engaging in other high-bandwidth activities at the same time, the network can become congested, resulting in slower speeds for everyone connected.

Some Starlink users are already familiar with this concept. According to PCMag, Starlink last year introduced $100 congestion charges for select areas where its network had become strained from too many users. This year, that fee rose to $250 in some cities. But in other cities where Starlink has excess capacity, the company has been offering potential customers free equipment.

Network congestion is also a well-known issue for cellular operators like Verizon and T-Mobile. That’s why some deploy temporary cell sites during major events like concerts.

This is all particularly relevant as SpaceX – the rocket company building Starlink’s satellite constellation – hopes to win hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funding for rural broadband Internet services through the U.S. government’s Broadband Equity Access and Deployment Program (BEAD) program.

According to the financial analysts at New Street Research, Starlink has so far won $387 million in BEAD grants to provide Internet services across 213,000 rural locations in the U.S.

About the author

Mike Dano

Ookla Research™ Articles

Mike Dano | August 26, 2025

Turning Wanderlust into Roaming Revenue

Tools to Assess Roaming in Latin America and Elsewhere

Spanish/Español

As in many other areas of the world, post-pandemic travel into, out of and throughout Latin America is on the rise. And that’s no surprise: Whether the destination is Rio de Janeiro, Cancún, Iguazu Falls or the inside of an important client’s office, many of the 20 countries that make up Latin America are reporting major increases in tourism and travel.

And – as in many other areas of the world – this is paramount to the mobile network operators that cover Latin America. That’s because more travel means more possible revenues from roaming. After all, wireless connectivity is quickly shifting from a travel convenience to a travel necessity.

Here’s a look at how Ookla data can help operators navigate their roaming businesses through these changes.

Key Takeaways:

Plenty of new trends are poised to cut into operators’ roaming revenues such as increasingly capable and available Wi-Fi options. Beyond that, eSIM operators are threatening to upend traditional competitive dynamics. Some regulators are pushing for cheaper and simpler roaming agreements. And some bigger operators are using their competitive weight to push for unlimited international roaming options.
Amid these threats, Ookla Speedtest® data can help operators ascertain their customers’ top travel destinations. Knowing that Canada is one of the top stops for travelers from Mexico, for example, can help guide operators in their pursuit of international roaming agreements.
Ookla data can also help illuminate some operator’s existing roaming strategies. For example, it seems some providers, like America Movil, have kept their customers’ connections inside their own network footprints, or those of select partners. Meanwhile, other operators have been more willing to let their traveling customers roam onto a variety of competing networks.
Finally, it’s clear that Latin American travelers can have a wide variety of roaming experiences. In some cases, customers’ travel connections have been faster than the speeds they receive in their home country – for example, users with Telefonica service from Mexico recorded 34.4 Mbps median download speeds in Mexico, but 55.8 Mbps median download speeds when they traveled internationally.

Travel Destinations

Mexico has a population of 131 million, putting it second to the region’s biggest country, Brazil, which counts 212 million residents. But Mexico is the undisputed tourism leader in Latin America. The country attracted 45 million international visitors in 2024, up 7.4% from the previous year. Brazil, for its part, hosted 6.8 million international tourists in 2024, up 14.6% year over year.

Those figures are undoubtedly a boon to the two countries’ mobile network operators, which can profit from the sale of roaming connections to all those inbound travelers.

However, those same operators also must address outbound roaming fees if they want to keep their customers connected when they travel abroad. This is where Ookla data comes in handy.

Over the past 12 months, customers with service from a Mexican mobile network operator often traveled to the US or Canada, according to Ookla Speedtest data. Other top destinations for travelers from Mexico included Colombia, Spain and Guatemala.

Similarly, the US was a top destination for customers who purchased their mobile services from a Brazilian operator. Other top destinations for such customers included Argentina, Portugal, Paraguay and Italy.

Latin American travelers' top roaming destinations
Past 12 months
This is a chart that shows the types of connections mobile customers use when they travel from Brazil to the US, divided up by Wi-Fi, 4G and 5G. They mostly use Wi-Fi.

The US was also a popular destination for travelers from other Latin American countries, such as Argentina and Chile, though not to the same degree as for travelers from Mexico (which of course sits on the southern border of the US).

Regardless, this kind of information can help guide Latin American operators as they sign roaming agreements with their international operator peers – and those decisions will ultimately impact the experiences their roaming customers will receive. After all, customers who use the Speedtest app to check their connections are probably the ones who care about the quality of those connections.

Within this data, it’s also worth noting that almost all of these countries are enjoying a general rise in their overall mobile Internet speeds. That’s important given the concurrent increase in the number of people traveling across Latin America’s borders.

Median mobile download speeds at top destinations for Latin American travelers
From Ookla Speedtest Intelligence, for all cellular technologies
This chart shows median mobile download speeds across several different countries from 2020 to 2024, with the US showing the greatest growth.

This rise in speeds spans much of the region – except for outlying locations such as Paraguay, where 5G is still in its infancy.

This kind of network performance information can also help assuage travelers who are increasingly relying on their phones for travel necessities like maps, translation apps and, of course, sun-drenched Instagram posts – as long as their roaming plans provide access to these speedy networks.

Picking the right connection

Like all modern travelers, Latin American globetrotters must decide: Cellular or Wi-Fi? Is it possible to use local Wi-Fi connections in order to avoid a mobile operator’s international roaming fees?

Over the past 12 months, it appears that travelers who hail from Mexico were keen to employ the Wi-Fi option. For example, more than half of all travelers from Mexico to the US relied on Wi-Fi connections instead of 4G LTE or 5G when they arrived in the US. In contrast, travelers who bought service from an operator in Brazil and then traveled to the US didn’t show nearly as much interest in Wi-Fi as their Mexican peers.

Travelers from Brazil & Mexico to the US, by connection type
Customers who purchased service in Brazil & Mexico and then connected to a US network, past 12 months
This is a chart that shows the types of connections (WiFi, 5G, 4G) that people access when they travel from Brazil & Mexico to the US.

Travelers originating in Argentina, Colombia and Chile showed this same proclivity for Wi-Fi. Indeed, roughly 80% of the mobile customers over the past 12 months who purchased service in Argentina and then traveled to Brazil (the top destination for these kinds of Argentinian travelers) connected to Wi-Fi when they arrived in Brazil.

However, this could be due to a variety of factors beyond the price of international cellular data. For example, Mexico City’s “Internet for All” initiative, aimed at bridging the digital divide, now spans tens of thousands of free Wi-Fi hotspots, earning the effort a nod from the Guinness World Records in 2021. Since 17% of Mexico’s total population lives in the larger Mexico City metropolitan area, travelers from Mexico may have a higher affinity for public Wi-Fi connections.

But Wi-Fi isn’t the only technology affecting the roaming equation for mobile customers and network operators in Latin America and elsewhere. For example, eSIM technology allows travelers to bypass their home operator’s roaming packages in favor of local or regional data plans that may be less expensive. This trend could help erode operators’ legacy roaming revenues – the GSMA projects that a remarkable 75% of smartphone connections in Latin America will use eSIM by 2030.

A final, critical factor that may affect the Latin American market stems from unlimited roaming offerings. For example, T-Mobile and AT&T are selling premium plans in the US that include roaming across Latin American at no extra cost. This reframes international connectivity as an included feature rather than a costly add-on – another competitive lever against the traditional roaming business model.

Roaming costs and roaming partners

A central question in any analysis of the Latin American roaming market is the financial impact of such services on operators, whether through fees paid to their international roaming partners or through revenues gained from inbound connections. However, obtaining precise figures in this area is difficult since operators generally do not disclose roaming revenues in their public financial statements.

An anecdotal view of the situation comes from Telecom Argentina’s 2024 financial results, which list “roaming, international settlement charges and lease of circuits” among expenses totalling $118.5 billion Argentine pesos, or around $90 million US dollars. That’s roughly 2.8% of the telecom operator’s total consolidated operating costs.

These expenses can be affected by a variety of factors. Variations in exchange rates – such as the appreciation of the Mexican peso and the Brazilian real against the US dollar – can substantially influence the profitability of operators’ roaming agreements. And local regulations can have a major impact as well. For example, the telecom regulator in Mexico, IFT, recently renewed rules governing the rates America Movil can charge other operators for roaming onto its network in Mexico, in a bid to expand telecom competition in the country.

Although roaming revenues might be difficult to assess, operators’ roaming partners are a bit clearer. Here too Ookla data can offer some insights. For example, over the past 12 months it appears that America Movil strongly favored one roaming partner per country. In the US, that was mostly T-Mobile.

America Movil roaming connections to US operators
Past 12 months
This is a chart that show the companies that America Movil roams with in international locations. Primarily it's T-Mobile in the US.

Further, in many markets where the company operates its own network, Ookla data showed that America Movil was reluctant to push its customers onto any other operator’s network except its own. Other big operators, like Telefonica, appeared more open to maintaining multiple roaming relationships.

America Movil & Telefonica's customers' connections when roaming
Past 12 months
This is a chart showing how often customers from America Movil & Telefonica roam onto its own network in countries where it has its own network.

AT&T, meantime, appeared to take an egalitarian approach to roaming in Canada by spreading its mobile customers – those with service from Mexico – evenly across Canada’s top mobile network operators: Telus, Bell, Rogers and Videotron. But, like other operators, AT&T pushed most of its customers in the US and in Mexico onto its own network in those countries.

So, what to make of these approaches to roaming? First, it’s worth noting that Ookla data showed the median mobile download speeds that customers received in the locations where they traveled as well as in the market where they initially purchased their mobile services:

Median mobile download speeds in home countries vs roaming countries
All cellular technologies, past 12 months
This is a chart that shows how speeds between America Movil and Telefonica differ when customers are in their home market vs when they are traveling internationally.

Thus, mobile users who purchased America Movil’s services in Brazil, for example, saw a clear decline in speeds when they were roaming vs. when they were in Brazil. But in other cases the reverse was true. As shown in the above chart, when a customer purchased their service in Mexico and then traveled abroad, they tended to find faster speeds at their destination if they were a Telefonica customer.

To be clear, network quality can vary by destination. Latin American customers who travel to the US, for example, will probably receive higher overall speeds than if they travel to Paraguay. That’s because US operators are roughly five years into their 5G buildouts whereas operators in Paraguay are just getting started.

Nonetheless, this data can help operators understand their customers’ roaming experiences, and then adjust as necessary.

Conclusions and recommendations

The roaming market globally, as well as in Latin America, is undergoing significant change. Some of that change is obvious – for example, Telefonica is offloading its mobile businesses in Argentina (to Telecom Argentina), Colombia (to Millicom), Peru (to Integra Tec), Uruguay (to Millicom) and Ecuador (again to Millicom). AT&T too is reportedly considering a sale of its business in Mexico. All these ownership changes could affect the region’s roaming agreements.

Other changes may be less clear, given the opaque nature of roaming revenues in general and the quiet rise of independent eSIM providers like Airalo and Holafly.

But there are a few things that operators in Latin America and elsewhere can focus on amid these changes:

Network performance. As 5G expands throughout Latin America, mobile customers in the region will likely begin to focus more closely on the quality and coverage of their 5G connections while they’re traveling. Similarly, big mobile network operators outside the region will be watching the construction of 5G networks in Latin America carefully as they decide how to keep their own roaming customers connected. Latin American operators that can offer a reliable, high-speed 5G experience may have a better chance at winning these roaming deals.
Digital experience. Operators that make international travel easy and seamless may be a step ahead of startup eSIM operators or Wi-Fi providers. For example, they may want to consider no-extra-charge roaming plans if such services can profitably attract high-value customers. Alternatively, operators could consider simplified purchasing and management systems for roaming, to prevent their customers from seeking eSIM alternatives.
Efficiency. Roaming-focused infrastructure may improve operators’ traffic management. For example, local breakouts can route mobile customers’ Internet traffic directly into the nearest local Internet exchange in the country they’re visiting, rather than all the way back to their home country’s network. This reduces customers’ overall latency and improves their experience (this too is recorded in Ookla data). Operators may also consider using blockchain technology, such as the GSMA’s eBusiness Network, to speed up roaming settlements.

We will continue to track roaming services and user experiences across major markets like Latin America for the foreseeable future. For more insights into Ookla’s network intelligence and experience benchmarking solutions, please contact us.

Ookla Senior Network Data Scientist Cristhian Castro contributed to this report.

Here is this same article translated into Spanish:

Convertir la pasión por viajar en ingresos por roaming

Herramientas para evaluar el roaming en Latinoamérica y en otros lugares

Como en muchas otras zonas del mundo, los viajes post-pandémicos hacia, desde y por América Latina van en aumento. Y no es de extrañar. Tanto si el destino es Río de Janeiro, Cancún, las cataratas del Iguazú o el interior de la oficina de un cliente importante, muchos de los 20 países que componen América Latina están registrando importantes aumentos en el turismo y los viajes.

Y, como en muchas otras zonas del mundo, esto es vital para los operadores de redes móviles que dan servicio en América Latina. Porque más viajes significan más posibles ingresos por roaming. No en vano, la conectividad inalámbrica está rápidamente pasando de ser una comodidad a convertirse en una necesidad durante el viaje.

En este análisis repasamos cómo los datos de Ookla pueden ayudar a los operadores a adaptar sus negocios de roaming a estos cambios.

Puntos clave:

Se prevé que muchas de las nuevas tendencias reduzcan los ingresos de los operadores por roaming, como las opciones Wi-Fi cada vez más capaces y disponibles. Además, los operadores de eSIM amenazan con alterar la dinámica competitiva tradicional. Algunos reguladores presionan para que los acuerdos de roaming sean más baratos y sencillos. Y algunos operadores más grandes están utilizando su peso competitivo para impulsar opciones ilimitadas de roaming internacional.
Frente a estas amenazas, los datos de Speedtest® de Ookla pueden ayudar a los operadores a identificar los principales destinos de viaje de sus clientes. Saber que Canadá es una de las principales paradas para los viajeros de México, por ejemplo, puede ayudar a guiar a los operadores en su búsqueda de acuerdos de roaming internacional.
Los datos de Ookla también pueden ayudar a esclarecer las estrategias de roaming de algunos operadores. Por ejemplo, parece que algunos proveedores, como América Móvil, han mantenido las conexiones de sus clientes dentro de sus propias redes o de las de socios. Mientras tanto, otros operadores han permitido que sus clientes utilicen el roaming en diversas redes de la competencia cuando están en itinerancia.
Por último, está claro que los viajeros de Latinoamérica pueden tener una amplia variedad de experiencias de roaming. En algunos casos, las conexiones de los clientes que viajan son más rápidas que las velocidades que reciben en su país de origen. Por ejemplo, los usuarios con servicio de Telefónica desde México registraron una velocidad mediana de descarga de 34,4 Mbps en México, mientras que su velocidad mediana de descarga cuando viajaron internacionalmente fue de 55,8 Mbps.

Destinos de viaje

México tiene 131 millones de habitantes, el segundo país más grande de la región, después de Brasil, con 212 millones. Pero México es el líder indiscutible del turismo en América Latina. El país atrajo a 45 millones de visitantes internacionales en 2024, un 7,4% más que el año anterior. Brasil, por su parte, recibió 6,8 millones de turistas internacionales en 2024, un 14,6% más que el año anterior.

Estas cifras son, sin duda, una bendición para los operadores de telefonía móvil de ambos países, que pueden beneficiarse de la comercialización de conexiones en itinerancia a todos estos viajeros.

Sin embargo, esos mismos operadores también deben hacer frente a las tarifas de roaming saliente si quieren mantener a sus clientes conectados cuando viajan al extranjero. Aquí es donde los datos de Ookla resultan útiles.

En los últimos 12 meses, los clientes con servicio de un operador de red móvil mexicano viajaron con frecuencia a EE.UU. o Canadá, según los datos de Speedtest de Ookla. Otros destinos importantes para los viajeros de México fueron Colombia, España y Guatemala.

Del mismo modo, EE.UU. fue uno de los principales destinos para los clientes que contrataron sus servicios móviles a un operador brasileño. Otros destinos importantes para estos clientes fueron Argentina, Portugal, Paraguay e Italia.

Los principales destinos de roaming para los viajeros latinoamericanos
Últimos 12 meses
Este gráfico muestra los tipos de conexiones que usan los clientes de telefonía móvil cuando viajan de Brasil a Estados Unidos, divididas por Wi-Fi, 4G y 5G. Principalmente usan Wi-Fi.

EE.UU. también fue un destino popular para los viajeros de otros países latinoamericanos, como Argentina y Chile, aunque no en la misma medida que para los viajeros de México.

En cualquier caso, este tipo de información puede servir de guía a los operadores latinoamericanos a la hora de firmar acuerdos de roaming con sus homólogos internacionales, que repercutirán en última instancia en la experiencia de sus clientes en itinerancia. No en vano, los clientes que utilizan la aplicación Speedtest para comprobar sus conexiones probablemente se preocupan por la calidad de las mismas.

Analizando estos datos, también vale la pena señalar que casi todos estos países están disfrutando de un aumento general de sus velocidades globales de Internet móvil. Esto es importante dado el aumento simultáneo del número de personas que viajan a través de las fronteras de América Latina.

Velocidad mediana de descarga móvil en los principales destinos para viajeros latinoamericanos.
De Ookla Speedtest Intelligence, para todas las tecnologías celulares.
Este gráfico muestra las velocidades medianas de descarga móvil en varios países de 2020 a 2024, con Estados Unidos mostrando el mayor crecimiento.

Este aumento de las velocidades se extiende por toda la región, excepto en lugares periféricos como Paraguay, donde el 5G aún está en fase inicial.

Este tipo de información sobre el rendimiento de la red también puede ayudar a dar tranquilidad a aquellos viajeros que dependen cada vez más de sus teléfonos para consultas de mapas, aplicaciones de traducción y, por supuesto, publicaciones en Instagram bañadas por el sol, siempre y cuando sus planes de roaming proporcionen acceso a estas redes rápidas.

Elegir la conexión adecuada

Como todos los viajeros modernos, los trotamundos latinoamericanos deben decidir: ¿Celular o Wi-Fi? ¿Es posible utilizar conexiones Wi-Fi locales para evitar las tarifas de roaming internacional de un operador móvil?

Según los datos de Speedtest, durante los últimos doce meses, parece que los viajeros procedentes de México fueron partidarios de emplear la opción Wi-Fi. Por ejemplo, más de la mitad de los viajeros de México a Estados Unidos confiaron en las conexiones Wi-Fi en lugar de 4G LTE o 5G cuando llegaron a Estados Unidos. Por el contrario, los viajeros que contrataron el servicio de un operador en Brasil y luego viajaron a EE.UU. no mostraron tanto interés en el Wi-Fi como sus homólogos mexicanos.

Viajeros de Brasil & México a EEUU, por tipo de conexión
Clientes que adquirieron servicio en México & Brasil y se conectaron a una red de EEUU
Este gráfico muestra los tipos de conexiones (Wi-Fi, 5G, 4G) que las personas usan cuando viajan de Brasil y México a Estados Unidos.

Asimismo, los viajeros procedentes de Argentina, Colombia y Chile fueron igualmente propensos al uso del Wi-Fi. De hecho, aproximadamente el 80% de los clientes de telefonía móvil que en los últimos 12 meses contrataron el servicio en Argentina y luego viajaron a Brasil (el principal destino de este tipo de viajeros argentinos) se conectaron a redes Wi-Fi cuando llegaron a Brasil.

Sin embargo, esto podría deberse a diversos factores más allá del precio de los datos celulares internacionales. Por ejemplo, la iniciativa ‘Internet para todos’ de Ciudad de México, cuyo objetivo es reducir la brecha digital, cuenta ya con decenas de miles de puntos de acceso Wi-Fi gratuitos, lo que le valió el reconocimiento del Guinness World Records en 2021. Dado que el 17% de la población total de México vive en la gran área metropolitana de Ciudad de México, los viajeros de este país pueden tener una mayor afinidad por las conexiones Wi-Fi públicas.

Pero el Wi-Fi no es la única tecnología que afecta a la ecuación del roaming para los clientes de telefonía móvil y los operadores de redes en América Latina y otros lugares. Por ejemplo, la tecnología eSIM permite a los viajeros eludir los paquetes de roaming de su operador de origen en favor de planes de datos locales o regionales que pueden ser menos costosos. Esta tendencia podría contribuir a erosionar los ingresos por roaming de los operadores: la GSMA prevé que un 75% de las conexiones de smartphones en América Latina utilizarán eSIM en 2030.

Un último factor crítico que puede afectar al mercado latinoamericano se deriva de las ofertas de roaming ilimitado. Por ejemplo, T-Mobile y AT&T venden planes premium en EE.UU. que incluyen roaming en toda América Latina sin coste adicional. Esto replantea la conectividad internacional como una característica incluida en vez de como un costoso complemento, otra palanca competitiva contra el modelo de negocio tradicional del roaming.

Costes y partners de roaming

Una cuestión central en cualquier análisis del mercado del roaming latinoamericano es el impacto financiero de estos servicios en los operadores, ya sea teniendo en cuenta las tarifas pagadas a sus socios de roaming internacional o los ingresos obtenidos de las conexiones entrantes. Sin embargo, es difícil obtener cifras precisas en este ámbito, ya que los operadores no suelen revelar los ingresos por roaming en sus informes financieros públicos.

Una visión anecdótica de la situación se desprende de los resultados financieros de Telecom Argentina para 2024, que incluyen “roaming, cargos por liquidación internacional y alquiler de circuitos” entre los gastos, por un total de 118.500 millones de pesos argentinos (unos 90 millones de dólares estadounidenses). Esto supone aproximadamente el 2,8% de los costes operativos consolidados totales del operador.

Estos gastos pueden verse afectados por diversos factores. Las variaciones de los tipos de cambio (como la apreciación del peso mexicano y el real brasileño frente al dólar estadounidense) pueden influir sustancialmente en la rentabilidad de los acuerdos de roaming de los operadores. Y la normativa local también puede tener un impacto importante. Por ejemplo, el regulador de las telecomunicaciones en México, el IFT, renovó recientemente las normas que rigen las tarifas que América Móvil puede cobrar a otros operadores por el roaming en su red en México, en un intento de incrementar la competencia de las telecomunicaciones en el país.

Aunque los ingresos por roaming pueden ser difíciles de evaluar, los partner de roaming de los operadores son un poco más claros. También en este caso los datos de Ookla pueden ofrecer algunas pistas. Por ejemplo, durante los últimos doce meses, parece que América Móvil prefirió un partner de roaming por país. En EE.UU., fue sobre todo T-Mobile.

Conexiones en roaming de América Móvil a operadores de USA
Últimos 12 meses
Este gráfico muestra las empresas con las que América Móvil tiene acuerdos de roaming en ubicaciones internacionales. Principalmente, es T-Mobile en Estados Unidos.

Además, en muchos mercados en los que la empresa opera su propia red, los datos de Ookla mostraron que América Móvil fue muy reacia a empujar a sus clientes a la red de cualquier otro operador que no sea el suyo. Otros grandes operadores, como Telefónica, parecieron algo más abiertos a mantener múltiples relaciones de roaming.

Conexiones de clientes de América Móvil & Telefónica cuando están en roaming
Últimos 12 meses
Este gráfico muestra con qué frecuencia los clientes de América Móvil y Telefónica hacen roaming en su propia red en los países donde la tienen.

AT&T, por su parte, pareció adoptar un enfoque igualitario de la roaming en Canadá al distribuir sus clientes de telefonía móvil (los que tienen servicio desde México) de forma uniforme entre los principales operadores de redes móviles de Canadá: Telus, Bell, Rogers y Videotron. Pero, igual que otros operadores, AT&T empuja a la mayoría de sus clientes de EE.UU. y México a su propia red en esos países.

¿Qué pensar de estos enfoques del roaming? En primer lugar, cabe señalar que los datos de Ookla mostraron la velocidad mediana de descarga móvil que recibieron los clientes en los lugares a los que viajaron, así como en el mercado en el que contrataron inicialmente sus servicios móviles:

Velocidades medianas de descarga móvil en países de origen vs. países de roaming.
Todas las tecnologías celulares, últimos 12 meses.
Este es un gráfico que muestra cómo difieren las velocidades entre América Móvil y Telefónica cuando los clientes están en su mercado local frente a cuando viajan internacionalmente.

Así, los usuarios de móvil que contrataron los servicios de América Móvil en Brasil, por ejemplo, vieron un claro descenso en las velocidades cuando estaban en itinerancia frente a cuando estaban en Brasil. Pero en otros casos puede ocurrir lo contrario. Como se muestra en el gráfico anterior, cuando un cliente adquirió su servicio en México y luego viajó al extranjero, tendió a experimentar velocidades más rápidas en su destino si era cliente de Telefónica.

Para ser claros, la calidad de la red puede variar según el destino. Los clientes latinoamericanos que viajan a EE.UU., por ejemplo, probablemente recibirán velocidades globales más altas que si viajan a Paraguay. Esto se debe a que los operadores estadounidenses llevan aproximadamente cinco años desplegando redes 5G, mientras que los operadores paraguayos acaban de empezar.

No obstante, estos datos pueden ayudar a los operadores a comprender las experiencias de itinerancia de sus clientes y a realizar los ajustes necesarios.

Conclusiones y recomendaciones

El mercado del roaming a nivel mundial, así como en América Latina, está experimentando cambios significativos. Algunos de esos cambios son obvios: por ejemplo, Telefónica está vendiendo sus negocios de telefonía móvil en Argentina (a Telecom Argentina), Colombia (a Millicom), Perú (a Integra Tec), Uruguay (a Millicom) y Ecuador (también a Millicom). Asimismo, AT&T estaría considerando la venta de su negocio en México. Todos estos cambios de propiedad podrían afectar a los acuerdos de roaming de la región.

Otros cambios pueden ser menos claros, dada la opacidad de los ingresos por roaming en general y el discreto auge de proveedores independientes de eSIM como Airalo y Holafly.

Pero hay algunas cosas en las que los operadores de América Latina y de otros lugares pueden centrarse en medio de estos cambios:

Rendimiento de la red. A medida que el 5G se extienda por América Latina, los clientes de telefonía móvil de la región probablemente empezarán a centrarse más en la calidad y la cobertura de sus conexiones 5G mientras viajan. Del mismo modo, los grandes operadores de redes móviles de fuera de la región observarán atentamente el despliegue de redes 5G en América Latina mientras deciden cómo mantener conectados a sus propios clientes de roaming. Los operadores latinoamericanos que puedan ofrecer una experiencia 5G confiable y de alta velocidad pueden tener una mejor oportunidad de ganar estos acuerdos de roaming.
Experiencia digital. Los operadores que hacen que los viajes internacionales sean fáciles y fluidos pueden estar un paso por delante de los nuevos operadores de eSIM o proveedores de Wi-Fi. Por ejemplo, podrían considerar planes de roaming sin costes adicionales si tales servicios pueden atraer de forma rentable a clientes de alto valor. Alternativamente, los operadores podrían plantearse sistemas simplificados de compra y gestión del roaming, para evitar que sus clientes busquen alternativas de eSIM.
Eficiencia. La infraestructura centrada en el roaming puede mejorar la gestión del tráfico de los operadores. Por ejemplo, las conexiones locales pueden dirigir el tráfico de Internet de los clientes móviles directamente a la central de Internet local más cercana del país que visitan, en lugar de volver a la red de su país de origen. Esto reduce la latencia general de los clientes y mejora su experiencia (esto también lo recoge Ookla en sus datos). Los operadores también pueden considerar el uso de la tecnología blockchain para el roaming, como la eBusiness Network de la GSMA, para acelerar los acuerdos de facturación de roaming.

Seguiremos analizando los servicios de roaming y las experiencias de los usuarios en nuestros principales mercados, como América Latina, en un futuro próximo. Para más información sobre las soluciones de inteligencia de red y evaluación comparativa de experiencias de Ookla, contacta con nosotros.

Cristhian Castro, Científico Senior de Datos de Red de Ookla, contribuyó a este informe.

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