ADSL (asymmetric digital subscriber line) will continue to be the preferred broadband method for Latin Americans in 2003, during which subscriptions to this technology are expected to reach 1.2 million, up 60 per cent from at the end of 2002, according to a new Yankee Group study.
This means ADSL will continue to top cable access, which will end 2003 as the second most popular broadband option in Latin America with about 720,000 subscribers, Yankee Group said in a statement this week.
ADSL is one of several technologies known collectively as DSL that allow subscribers to use a regular telephone line to simultaneously access the Internet at high speeds and make and receive voice calls. This particular flavour of DSL is called asymmetric because there is usually more bandwidth available from the Internet to the user, than from the user to the Internet.
In Latin America, ADSL leads because in general the telecommunication companies that provide this high-speed Internet access are investing more in its deployment and making it more widely available than the cable companies that provide cable services, Yankee Group said.
ADSL providers will generate almost US$500 million in revenue from ADSL services in 2003, according to the study.
Brazil will remain the region’s largest ADSL market with 61 per cent of the region’s subscribers by year-end 2003, followed by Mexico with 12 per cent. However, Mexico leads Latin America in cable modem subscribers, and will end 2003 with about 29 per cent of the region’s total, according to Yankee Group.
There were only 95,000 ADSL subscribers in Latin America at the end of 2000, according to a previous Yankee Group study.