Though some of the largest economies in South America have struggled in recent years, the size of the region’s economies and populations make it worth watching from a telecommunications perspective. As such, we took a look at data from Speedtest Intelligence® from Q1 2018 to understand which countries are making the biggest strides in mobile internet speeds.

Which South American country has the fastest mobile speeds?

Peru had the fastest mean download speed during Q1 2018 of any of the countries on our list. Brazil showed a 28.7% increase over the same period last year to rank second. Third place Chile’s download speed actually declined slightly. Though Argentina came in fifth, the country’s 25.8% improvement in mobile download speed is impressive.

It’s not surprising that Venezuela shows the slowest mobile speed given the country’s economic collapse which has caused operational problems for many corporations. Unfortunately, Venezuela’s last place position is accompanied by a 10.1% decline in mobile download speed.

Mobile speeds in South America’s largest cities

Comparing mean download speeds in the continent’s 10 most populous cities, we found that Rio was the fastest city in South America in Q1 2018. Lima, the second fastest city, was the only city in the top five not located in Brazil.

Salvador, Buenos Aires, Rio, Brasília and São Paulo all saw impressive double-digit increases in their mobile download speeds over the same period the year before.

Venezuela again fares poorly with a mean mobile download speed of 9.06 Mbps in Caracas, a decline of 11.6% since Q1 2017. Caracas was not the only city where internet speeds decreased, however, Lima saw a 3.5% decline.

How forward-looking carriers are improving their infrastructure (and speeds)

Carriers are a driving force in improving speeds in any market, so we dug into what some of the largest players in these six countries are doing to improve the speeds their customers are experiencing.

Avantel (Colombia)

Over the past four years, Avantel has been delivering a very competitive experience mainly using its AWS spectrum assets. Using Nokia’s modular infrastructure, Avantel has been able to seamlessly integrate IMS into the core and successfully launch services such as Voice over LTE (VoLTE), enabling a more efficient use of spectrum assets.

Bitel (Peru)

After launching LTE in the 900MHz band in 500 towns and cities at the tail end of 2016, Vietnamese-backed operator Bitel has committed to expanding their coverage and adding a capacity layer in the 2.6 GHz band over the next three years. This will surely offer a boost in performance and overall user experience.

Claro (Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Peru)

In Brazil, Claro’s leading LTE network uses a healthy mix of low, mid and high frequency bands offering depth of coverage across a wide area. Using carrier aggregation, the operator is able to increase the speeds for users with capable handsets in 140 cities. In good signal conditions modern devices equipped with four receive antennas (4×4 MIMO) and capable of processing 8-bits per transmission (256 QAM) should allow subscribers to achieve even higher peak and average data rates in many areas. In some areas of São Paulo the operator is able to offer peak speeds of 1 Gbps by aggregating licensed (2.5 GHz) with the unlicensed (5 GHz) spectrum using technology called License-Assisted Access (LAA). In preparation for 5G, Claro and Ericsson staged a demo utilizing 100 MHz-wide channels of spectrum in the 15 GHz band, achieving speeds of up to 4.5 Gbps.

Entel Movil (Chile, Peru)

In Chile, the second largest mobile operator Entel Chile is leveraging its 700 MHz and 2600 MHz spectrum assets to provide a solid user experience across its footprint. In addition, a partnership with Ericsson ensures a rich portfolio of advanced LTE features and future upgradability to the upcoming technologies, including 5G.

Movilnet (Venezuela)

Following the launch of LTE in the 2100 MHz spectrum band in 2017, Movilnet is looking to expand its LTE capacity in 2019 as the CDMA sunset is scheduled for tail end of this year.

Movistar (Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Peru, Venezuela)

The major player across the South American continent is Movistar, owned by Spain’s Telefonica. Using its scale and financial might, the brand is able to provide an extremely competitive mobile experience by leveraging the latest LTE technologies, including Higher Order MIMO and Higher Order Modulation. This improves speeds, lowers the resource utilization and increases the network efficiency.

Nextel (Brazil)

In Brazil, Nextel’s LTE network is delivered over the 1800 MHz spectrum band, and the limited LTE spectrum assets (15 MHz wide) are making it difficult for the carrier to compete with larger operators. But with the help of Huawei’s LTE-Advanced equipment, the carrier is able to maximize the spectral efficiency by installing the 4T4R (four-transmit, four-receive) radios at cell sites in order to deliver speeds up to 225 Mbps in selected areas. It’s worth noting that Nextel Brazil is one of the last iDEN operators in the world, and the carrier has been delaying the sunset of this network technology originally launched in 1998. Once iDEN is decommissioned, the 800 MHz spectrum assets could be repurposed to deliver significant improvements in radio access, specifically in terms of network propagation and penetration.

Oi (Brazil)

After a recent financial struggle, which included filing the largest bankruptcy request in Brazil’s history, Oi is getting ready to launch LTE-Advanced in July with a plan to cover 26 cities by the end of 2018. Using two frequency bands (1800 MHz and 2600 MHz), Oi is looking to offer competitive network experience to over 40 million of its subscribers.

Personal (Argentina)

Telecom Personal now covers more than 1,000 cities and towns which make up more than 80% of the population of Argentina. About two-thirds of all the traffic is now carried over the carrier’s LTE network which supports the speeds in excess of 100 Mbps by combining 700 MHz, 2100 MHz and 2600 MHz spectrum bands. Together with Nokia, Telecom Personal successfully completed 5G trials in Buenos Aires using 400 MHz of the millimeter wave spectrum in the 28 GHz band, reaching speeds of 10 Gbps.

Telefonica Brasil (Brazil)

Telefonica Brasil, operating as Vivo, holds a similar spectrum portfolio to Claro of Band 28, Band 3 and Band 7 assets. Using the available tools from the LTE-A toolbox (carrier aggregation, 256 QAM and 4×4 MIMO), the operator is able to offer speeds in excess of 530 Mbps in selected areas on capable devices powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon X16 and X20 LTE modems. Vivo also offers Voice Over LTE (VoLTE) service in two markets, Rio Verde and Brasília.

TIM Brasil (Brazil)

Leveraging a long-term partnership with Nokia, TIM Brasil has been able to provide LTE service across many regions of the country. Using Nokia’s scalable “5G-ready” AirScale radio platform, TIM has been able to deliver the latest LTE-Advanced network features and pave the way for the upcoming 5G wave. TIM also prides itself in being the first Latin American VoLTE operator, launching the service in Brasília in July 2017 and subsequently in 20 additional markets.

Tigo (Colombia)

Back in April, Tigo has activated carrier aggregation in parts of Bogotá, claiming the title of the first LTE-Advanced network in Colombia. As a result, users in the busiest areas of the nation’s capital should be able to experience speeds in excess of 100 Mbps.

WOM (Chile)

After the initial launch of LTE in 2015 and the continued rollout in 2016, WOM continues to provide LTE service in the 2100 MHz band, and aims to expand its market share over the next 5 years from 11% to 25%.

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