Broadband Blackouts & Starlink Smugglers: Inside Venezuela’s Fight for Internet Access
CANTV, the state-owned fixed broadband incumbent, dominated traditional internet with about 56% market share as of late 2022, while its aging ADSL copper network remained slow and repair backlogs persisted. From August 2020 to August 2023, Venezuela jumped 50 places in Speedtest’s global broadband index, rising from an average 6.15 Mbps to 29.5 Mbps. By mid-2024, Speedtest reported a median fixed broadband speed of about 54 Mbps, placing Venezuela roughly 119th in the world. Movistar, Movilnet, and Digitel controlled about 50%, 26%, and 23–24% of Venezuela’s mobile market respectively in 2022–2023. About 60% of Venezuelan mobile users had 4G LTE