Information Society Statistical Profiles 2009 – Americas (v1.01)

The third report of a series of regional statistical profiles on the information society prepared for the World Telecommunication Development Conference in 2010. Mobile cellular uptake is strong in the Americas region with higher mobile penetration in some of the developing countries than the developed countries. Mobile penetration will likely exceed 100% in the close future. 3 out of every 4 mobile subscriptions in the Americas are due to strategic investors in the region. VoIP traffic has also shown tremendous growth in Central and South America. The Americas region holds a linguistic advantage with English, Spanish, Portuguese, and French all represented on the Internet, allowing content development and e-government applications in the Americas. However, urban-rural gaps prevent broadband uptake and household access in areas outside of the United States and Canada. This report highlights ICT developments in the Americas, provides statistical indicators for each country, and features two benchmarking tools – the ITU ICT Deployment Index (IDI) and the ICT Price Basket – to analyze the region. It provides a market overview in fixed telephone lines, mobile cellular, television broadcasting, and Internet, including public/community Internet access and mobile Internet.