Latin America Internet Market
I am in Argentina this week on a Consulting assignment with Mercado Libre (MELI), the region’s largest e-commerce marketplace. So here’s some interesting data about the Latin American Internet market from a bunch of different sources that I am working with. [My Indian readers would find it interesting to contrast some of this data with that of the Indian market.]
From Pacific Crest Securities:
Latin America is a very attractive e-commerce opportunity that should support several years of rapid growth. In particular, we believe that Latin America?s sizable population, increasing wealth, early-stage Internet and broadband adoption, and poor retail infrastructure should benefit and drive strong e-commerce growth.
Latin America has a population of roughly 550 million, representing 9% of the world?s population. comScore estimates that there are over 53 million Internet users over the age of 14 in Latin America, representing 13% online penetration. Brazil – ?36% of the GDP and 35% of the population in Latin America – ?is significantly underpenetrated at just 11% Internet adoption. As this market reaches critical mass, we believe that it can have a significant impact on the growth in the region.
The benefits of broadband Internet are just beginning; penetration is only around 10% of the Latin American population. For example, comScore estimates that the average broadband Internet user in Brazil spends over twice the number of hours online per month than a narrowband Internet user, as of January 2007.
It will be very interesting to contrast the applications on the Internet in Latin America with India. My view is that it is the lack of compelling content and applications in India that is hampering the development of Internet in India.