Contents

Telecommunications in Chile

History[edit]

Telephone and telegraph services started in Chilein1879, three years after Alexander Graham Bell, presented his patent for a telephonic system. José Dottin Husbands, an associate of Thomas Edison, arrived into the port of Valparaíso carrying the first set of switching equipment and telephones.^[1] By 1880 the first telephone company of the country is born (Compañía Chilena de Teléfonos de Edison), while in 1893, after a rapid expansion in the northern regions of Chile, telephone services started operating in the south, thanks to the founding of Telefónica del Sur (current day Grupo GTD), a company created by a group of German immigrants that had previously settled in the area of Valdivia, Región de los Ríos.

• Main lines in use: 2,567,938 (2020 est.)^[2]
• Mobile cellular: 25,068,249 (2020 est.)^[2]
  • Pre-paid: 17,283,257
  • Post-paid: 6,847,497 ^[3]
• System: privatization began in 1988; advanced telecommunications infrastructure; modern system based on extensive microwave radio relay facilities; fixed-line connections have dropped in recent years as mobile-cellular usage continues to increase, reaching a level of 85 telephones per 100 persons^[2]
  • Domestic: extensive microwave radio relay links; domestic satellite system with 3 earth stations
  • international: country code - 56; submarine cables provide links to the US and to Central and South America; satellite earth stations - 2 Intelsat (Atlantic Ocean) (2007)

Radio[edit]

• Broadcast stations: 1,490 (175 AM; 1,315 FM) (2006)^[4]

Television[edit]

• Broadcast stations: 63 (plus 121 repeaters) (1997)^[2]
• Broadcast television system: NTSC^[5]
• Pay television: 4,158,874 (2012)^[6]

Internet[edit]

• Internet hosts: 847,215 (2008)^[2]
• Internet users: 16,822,264 (2020 est.)^[2]
• Internet mobile users: 4,921,587^[3]
• Internet country code: .cl^[2]

Other technical details[edit]

• Electricity: 220 volts AC, 50 Hz^[7]

References[edit]