In the context of the fair share debate, the GSMA presents the '5Use of mobile networks in Latin America’, the first in a series of reports to contribute to the regional discussion with data and evidence. This initial report reveals a photograph of mobile traffic in the region by May 2024, by company and content type, at aggregate level and by subregion and/or country. The most striking conclusion of the study is that three companies ― Meta, Alphabet (Google) and TikTok ― generate more than 70% of mobile download traffic in Latin America. Meta concentrates almost 50%; alphabet adds 14% and TikTokT3T3.8.
The report also examines mobile traffic by type of use, access to social networks (41%), web browsing (29%) and streaming (19%) leading the list. This podium repeats itself throughout the region, with some variations. In Central America and Mexico, for example, the order remains, but social networks represent almost 60% of the total. In Argentina, Chile and Paraguay, streaming is above web browsing. In the Andean Region, streaming becomes the most popular type, representing 38% of the total 10.
The common denominator in the three cases is the intensive use of video, in short or long format. The demand for data of this content will continue to increase with the advancement of resolutions (from HD to 4K, and eventually 8K) and the expansion of live broadcast events. Audiovisual content is one of the main drivers of the sustained growth of mobile traffic that, between 2016 and 2023, multiplied by 14. Only the annual growth in 2023 was greater than the total volume of traffic in the region five years before, in 2018. Until 2030, it is expected to exert more than 2 gigabytes per year.
"When we see 70% of mobile traffic concentrated in three companies, one might think that it is just a reflection of the choice of users.But a considerable part of that traffic is unsolicited, like the ads we see when opening our apps or videos at resolutions far superior to those we can enjoy on our devices”, says Lucas Gallitto, Director for Latin America, GSMA. “Today, platforms do not pay for the costs of this traffic they monetize, which has a negative impact on user experience, network capacity and the environment. This highlights the need for fair share: a market mechanism by which large traffic generators contribute to the financing of networks, encouraging the most efficient use of this resource that belongs to everyone.”
The report 'Uso de rede mobile em Latin America’ is available for download in portuguese, spanish and english here.
