Andean Group - January 2007 (ISSN 1741-4466)

Peru is one of the countries with the highest rate of broadband growth in the world, according to statistics released by the Spanish telecommunications company, Telefónica. By the end of 2006 it had 468,000 broadband customers, which is a growth of 36% on 2005. It predicts that it will have 565,000 users by the end of 2007 and over a million by 2011.

Telefónica, whose "Speedy" product has a virtual monopoly over broadband in Peru, has prospered due to high levels of investment in expanding the network to reach regions where broadband facilities did not exist before. Nonetheless, Lima still represents 70% of the Peruvian broadband market. According to the director of Premium de Telefónica del Perú, Rainer Spitzer, the company will spend a further US$250m on its broadband service over the next four years. 

While the number of internet cafes in Peru is growing, a low level of PC penetration could provide an obstacle for broadband growth. This led Telefónica to join forces with INTEL and Microsoft in a programme launched in March 2005 called PC Perú, promoted by the ministry of production, which allows Peruvians to buy personal computers at accessible prices. 

Peru is rated 49th out of 68 countries in the Economist Intelligence Unit's 2006 e-readiness index (which measures the "state of play" of a country's information and communications technology); its Andean neighbours Venezuela and Colombia are ranked 48th and 51st respectively. The number of broadband users is still comparatively low in Colombia, but grew by 44% in 2005 while dial-up internet use grew by only 0.1%. In Venezuela CANTV dominates the broadband market with around 82% of the subscriber base.

• ATPDEA
  US president George W Bush signed into law a six-month extension of the Andean Trade Preferences and Drug Eradication Act (Atpdea) with Ecuador, Colombia, Peru and Bolivia on 20 December. The extension to the law has been granted for only six months rather than a year in order to encourage Ecuador and Bolivia to negotiate a free trade agreement with the US. Peru and Colombia have already signed free trade agreements, and if the US congress fails to ratify them before Atpdea expires at the end of June there is a special clause which will permit another six-month extension. A six-member bipartisan delegation from the US Senate, visited Bolivia, Ecuador and Peru over the new year.