I’m just back from a ten-day vacation in Buenos Aires.   Had a wonderful time, though the 11pm dining hour probably wouldn’t be sustainable long-term for a “closer to 40 than I’d like to admit” guy like me.  In any case, while the purpose of the trip was relaxation, I couldn’t help letting a bit of research get in the way.  A few observations from my trip:

WiFi is ubiquitous

Recent research shows that Buenos Aires has the highest WiFi penetration in Latin America, with one hotspot for every 2,620 people.  More interesting is how many are free.  While the “muni WiFi” model has never seemed to make much sense in other corners of the world, BA may have found an interesting solution—corporate goodwill sponsorship.  To ensure that residents are not without broadband even in the city’s cavernous “Subte” metro system, Cisco kindly offers a free service. 

In fact, corporate sponsorship seems to be the way in Buenos Aires—even street signs are sponsored by the likes of Mobile operator Claro, Nokia, Cisco, American Express, and Broadband Service Provider, Arnet.

Packages are cheap, but service is s-l-o-w

In the fully-furnished apartment I rented for my stay in Buenos Aires, “broadband” was touted as a perk.  While it was, indeed, present, the actual achieved data rates walked the spider silk thin line between “broadband” and “not quite broadband.”  From the best I could tell, Arnet’s premium service maxes out at about 5Mbps.  I was getting just shy of 1Mbps. 

Competition seems to be heating up. 

Smaller players such as metrotel are taking on behemoths such as Arnet, blanketing Buenos Aires’ billboards with advertisements for their VoIP product, iVoz.  The company has claims a 200km MPLS fiber optic backbone in greater Buenos Aires, as well as 60 nodes and a data center.

I’m ready to do some more “field work.”  Perhaps some on-site research in Brazil?