Editing Telecommunications in Chile (section)

==Telephone==

=== History ===
Telephone and telegraph services started in [[Chile]] in [[1879]], three years after [[Alexander Graham Bell]], presented his patent for a telephonic system. José Dottin Husbands, an associate of [[Thomas Edison]], arrived into the port of [[Valparaíso]] carrying the first set of switching equipment and telephones.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Historia de la Compañía » Telefónica Chile |url=https://telefonicachile.cl/acerca-de-telefonica/telefonica-en-chile/historia-de-la-compania/ |access-date=2022-06-28 |language=es-CL}}</ref> By 1880 the first telephone company of the country is born (Compañía Chilena de Teléfonos de Edison), while in 1893, after a rapid expansion in the northern regions of Chile, telephone services started operating in the south,  thanks to the founding of [[Telefónica del Sur]] (current day [[Grupo GTD]]), a company created by [[German colonization of Valdivia, Osorno and Llanquihue|a group of German immigrants]] that had previously settled in the area of [[Valdivia]], [[Los Ríos Region|Región de los Ríos]].

*Main lines in use: 2,567,938 (2020 est.)<ref name="CIA">{{Cite CIA World Factbook|country=Chile}}</ref>
*Mobile cellular: 25,068,249 (2020 est.)<ref name="CIA"/>
**Pre-paid: 17,283,257
**Post-paid: 6,847,497 <ref name="Desarrollo Digital">{{cite web
|url=http://www.desarrollodigital.gob.cl/noticias/39-acceso
|access-date=2013-05-29
|work=Acceso a internet por cada 100 habitantes llega a 41% y banda ancha móvil se acerca a los 5 millones de conexiones
|publisher=Gobierno de Chile
|title=Número de celulares en Chile superó los 24 millones
}}</ref>
*System: privatization began in 1988; advanced telecommunications infrastructure; modern system based on extensive microwave radio relay facilities; fixed-line connections have dropped in recent years as mobile-cellular usage continues to increase, reaching a level of 85 telephones per 100 persons<ref name="CIA"/>
**Domestic: extensive microwave radio relay links; domestic satellite system with 3 earth stations
**international: country code - 56; submarine cables provide links to the US and to Central and South America; satellite earth stations - 2 Intelsat (Atlantic Ocean) (2007)