Chile is now ranked as the best market in the region for its business environment, according to BMI. It has overtaken Brazil this quarter, having received a boost to its industry rewards.
Chile now has its first LTE network as of the end of June 2013, following Claro's launch of the service in Santiago. Uptake of 4G in Chile is expected to be among the best in the region, as there is demand for the service based on the Chilean population's receptivity to new technologies. Growth in subscriber numbers is slowing down, however, with all three major operators recording declines in ARPU in the quarter.
This indicates that risks may be weighted to the downside and industry rewards could drop back down to 45.0 from 47.5 in Q413. We continue to expect that 2013 will see a shift in the Chilean economy and real GDP growth is likely to fall from 5.6% in 2012 to just 4.3% this year and average 4.2% from 2014-2017, below consensus estimates.
