At end-Q1, 31.2% of homes had internet access in capital Lima, climbing 0.9% percentage points from the same time last year.

According to a report by website BNamericas.com, access in urban homes not including Lima rose 4.8 percentage points to 17.3%. In rural areas, access grew 0.7 percentage points to 0.9%.

In Lima, 51.6% of homes had cable TV services at end-March, up 0.1 percentage points on the year.

In other urban areas, homes with cable TV services reached 31.4%, climbing 3.6 percentage points. Rural areas reached 6.3%, up 1.6 percentage points year-on-year.

Also, 77.7% of Peruvian homes had access to a mobile phone at the end of the first quarter of the year, an increase of 3.4 percentage points year-on-year.

Meanwhile, 88.8% of homes in Lima had access to mobile telephony at the end of the period, climbing 3.5 percentage points year-on-year, the INEI said.

In urban areas not including Lima, homes with access to mobile telephony reached 84.4% at end-Q1, up 1.8 percentage points on the year. For homes in rural areas of the country, that figure expanded 5.9 percentage points to 52.8%.

Access to mobile telephony services in Peruvian homes has grown significantly over the last five years. According to a previous report from the INEI, by mid-2007, a total of 40.6% of Peruvian homes had access to mobile services.

In Lima alone, a total of 66.2% of homes had access to mobile services while in the rest of urban areas and in rural areas, homes with mobile services totaled 49.2% and 10% respectively.

(END) INT/EEP