Fiber optics continues to grow in Peru's fixed internet market, edging past cable modem (HFC) connections to account for the largest share of national broadband accesses.

Fiber optics reached for 46.63% of connections at end-June, just ahead of HFC with 46.62%.

However, while fiber optics are expanding rapidly, HFC shrank from 61% of total broadband accesses in June 2022, according to the latest figures published by the regulator Osiptel.

"Given the statistical information that we have and the market trends seen, we expect fiber to surpass cable this year,” Lennin Quiso Córdova, director of regulatory policies and competition at Osiptel, told BNamericas in June.

At the end of June, the number of fixed fiber to the home (FTTH) internet connections was 1.5mn, up 76.6% year-on-year. In the last five years, fiber optics has grown at an average of 108% per year.

This expansion is consistent with a 100% increase in the share of fiber optic providers in total internet connections. 

According to Osiptel data on fixed fiber internet connections, Telefónica saw its market share dip 8.7 percentage points year-on-year to 35.5% at end-June, while Claro accounted for 12.8%, down 1.2 points. However, Wow achieved growth of 10.2 percentage points, putting it third in the ranking with a 16.3% market share, behind WIN with 24.6%.

Osiptel did not report the total number of lines at the end of June. In May, fixed internet connections in Peru reached 3.2mn.

In July, Telefónica and Chile's Entel announced an agreement whereby the international investment firm KKR will buy a majority stake in PangeaCo, a fiber company owned by Telefónica, and the fiber optic networks of Telefónica del Perú and Entel Perú.

The agreement includes an additional US$200mn investment commitment to at least double the ultra-fast fiber network from more than 2.0mn homes passed to 5.2mn.