There are more cellphone contracts than Colombians in Colombia, according to a government report released Wednesday.
The Ministry of Information Technology and Communications found that, in the fourth quarter of 2013, there were 50,295,114 registered cellphones in Colombia, which has an estimated population of 48,402,128.
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In fairness, the Andean nation is well overdue for a national census, so population figures are all somewhat tentative.
If the numbers are correct, however, there is an average of 106.7 mobile subscribers per 100 inhabitants.
The report states that there was an increase of 3.41 % — 1,657,105 subscribers — from the third to the fourth quarter of 2013.
Prepaid contracts made up 79.35% of the total compared to 20.65% being pay-as-you-go, according to the report.
Smartphone use in Colombia has seen a 278% increase in the past year ranking highest ahead of countries such as Vietnam, China, Chile and India.
Such an increase in cellphone use has been attributed to an increase in social media as well as the popularity of applications such as online banking.
Sources
- Colombia cuenta con más de 50 millones de abonados a telefonía celular (Caracol Radio)
- Population Statistics (CountryMetres)
- 8 New Trends in Latin America’s Mobile Market for 2013 (Latin Link)