LATAM depends on fiber optics for the consolidation of 5G

5G Americas, based on information from SmC+ Consulting, analyzes the importance of fiber optic developments in Latin America and the Caribbean for the advancement of new technologies such as 5G.

Las fiber optic networks, both to the home (FTTH) and to the building (FTTB), will have a fundamental role to provide robust connectivity and at the same time, support the development of wireless technologies such as 4G and 5G, among others. Likewise, the expansion of fiber optic networks to the home or building (FTTH/B) will be especially important to carry mobile traffic through Wi-Fi networks and thus enable uses such as Internet of Things (IoT), Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality and applications for retail businesses, among other uses.

There is still some way to go, of course: according to data from SmC+ Consulting collected by 5G Americas, the average FTTH/B coverage (in terms of homes passed over the total number of homes in the country) in Latin America and the Caribbean (considering 18 selected countries) reaches 66 per percent, with three countries leading the table: Trinidad and Tobago (95 percent), Barbados (94 percent) and Uruguay (90 percent). Meanwhile, in terms of service penetration (subscribers over the total number of homes in the country), the Latin American average is 33 percent, with Barbados (86 percent) and Uruguay (78 percent) well above the rest of the countries in the region. For example, third place goes to Trinidad and Tobago, with a penetration of 50 percent.

Regarding the occupancy rate (take-up) of fiber optics in the region, is only 50 percent. This index considers the number of FTTH/B subscribers over the total number of homes used with the technology. Considering this panorama, there is still a need commercial efforts to migrate users from other technologies to FTTH/B, which further implies that there is potential for growth in terms of subscriptions with limited additional investments. Finally, SmC+ estimates that FTTH/B in Latin America will continue to increase until 2027, to achieve an average coverage of 80 percent, and an average penetration of 57 percent.