Ecuador's telecom situation has radically changed during the past few years, and the country is seeing an explosion of Internet access points and mobile lines. According to Supertel, Ecuador's telecom authority, Internet users have grown 37% from last year.
The March 2013 figures show 9.5 million users of broadband and fibre connections. Four years earlier, there were only 1.5 million connections, which represents a growth of 383% since 2009. Mobile Internet communications experienced growth as well, increasing 1,565% since 2009 and reaching 3.4 million users.
But Supertel is aware that this growth may lead to a failure in the telecoms system. It is said to be working on a new plan to control the quality of connections, and will offer its first reports by the end of the year. A new regulation is also on its way, as it is in many other Latin American countries, to halt the increase of user complaints.
The modernisation of lines plus the growth of Internet users in the whole of Latin America – pushed by mobile and satellite connections – is bringing the region into a real digital revolution in which video-on-demand and over-the-top services are rapidly growing.