Ministry says fixed lines reach 6.3m, 14.8m mobile users with Movilnet

Venezuela’s Ministry of Science, Technology and Intermediate Industries (MPPCTII) has given a presentation in which it points out that the country’s telecoms sector grew from 3.6 million fixed line subscribers in 2007 to 6.32 million at the end of 2011, an increase of 76.5% over five years. Overall, since the re-privatisation of national PSTN operator CANTV, the telco saw 79% growth in its fixed line base, the MPPCTII added. The ministry also stated that CANTV’s mobile division Movilnet reached 14.8 million subscribers by the end of 2011, up from 8.3 million customers over the same timeframe. Other statistics quoted included that Venezuela ended 2011 with 11,482km of fibre-optic backbone infrastructure in service, with around 6,000km expected to be added to the network in 2012.