Telecommunications in Chile

Template:Short description The technical regulator of communications in Chile is the Ministry of Transportation and Telecommunications, through the Undersecretariat of Telecommunications (Subtel).

Telephone

History

Telephone and telegraph services started in Chile in 1879, 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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> 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.)<ref name="CIA">Template:Cite CIA World Factbook</ref>
• Mobile cellular: 25,068,249 (2020 est.)<ref name="CIA"/>
  • Pre-paid: 17,283,257
  • Post-paid: 6,847,497 <ref name="Desarrollo Digital">Template:Cite web</ref>
• 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<ref name="CIA"/>
  • 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

• Broadcast stations: 1,490 (175 AM; 1,315 FM) (2006)<ref name="INE">Compendio Estadístico 2006, INE.</ref>

Television

• Broadcast stations: 63 (plus 121 repeaters) (1997)<ref name="CIA"/>
• Broadcast television system: NTSC<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Pay television: 4,158,874 (2012)<ref name="Cambio21">Articulo 2012, Cambio21.</ref>

Internet

• Internet hosts: 847,215 (2008)<ref name="CIA"/>
• Internet users: 16,822,264 (2020 est.)<ref name="CIA"/>
• Internet mobile users: 4,921,587<ref name="Desarrollo Digital"/>
• Internet country code: .cl<ref name="CIA"/>

Other technical details

• Electricity: 220 volts AC, 50 Hz<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>