What is Mobile Broadband

The expansion of the mobile network has a pro-poor tendency; it has provided access to ICT services for those previously excluded from this market. Today, in the age of the Internet and the diffusion of mobile broadband, we are witnessing a new kind of transformation in the lives of the poor. Mobile broadband adoption is replicating at an even faster pace than adoption of mobile telephony. However, there are still challenges ahead for mobile broadband to promote a democratization of the Internet in Latin America: today, mobile broadband penetration is low for Latin American countries, averaging 17%. Besides, the region faces a major constraint in connectivity, where the vast majority of people remain unconnected. The successful appropriation of any ICT requires integral and coordinated polices that include supply and demand variables, where digital skills and valued contents must be promoted.