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Saturday, January 9, 2010
Today's News Headlines
* MVNOs estimated to move US$570mn by 2014 - Regional
* Polycom to focus on Latin American expansion plan this year - Regional
* Comba foresees increasing opportunities for wireless solution - Regional
* Roundup: Alcatel Lucent-LG, Cantv-IFE, telephone cable theft, Cuba telecoms - Regional
* GVT could grow at annual rates of 20-30% in the next 2-3 years - Brazil
* Mobile broadband accounts for 0.2% of total internet connections in South America - Regional
* Govt sets Feb 25 deadline for TI to sell Sofora stake - Argentina
* TIM, Vex sign agreement to offer WiFi services - Brazil
* Copaco to invest US$25mn in mobile telephony network - Paraguay
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* MVNOs estimated to move US$570mn by 2014 - Regional
Mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs) in Latin America are expected to generate revenues of US$570mn in 2014, according to a study released by Signals Telecom Consulting.
Revenues from this segment are expected to grow at a CAGR of almost 57% during the 2009-2014 period, Signals said.
According to the report, the countries with the highest development of MVNOs are Chile, Ecuador and Mexico.
However, according to Signals, once local regulators greenlight the MVNO program in Brazil, this market has the potential to become the most important in the region. Signals president José Otero told BNamericas that the MVNO scheme is expected to be approved within the next 18 months, once the consultation period comes to an end. "The approval of MVNOs in Brazil will enable an expansion of mobile services offerings, especially in niche segments," Otero added.
"Increasing competition in the packaged services market will be key for fixed and pay TV operators to opt for this business model to launch mobile services," Signals senior analyst Elías Vicente said.
"With this model, operators will look to expand their presence across the region, reducing infrastructure costs," Vicente added. "The implementations of Maxcom in Mexico and Telsur in Chile will be replicated in other markets with the main goal of launching quadruple play service to keep clients with high consumption loyal," Vicente added.
The analyst also said that recent unsuccessful efforts by local regulators to attract new mobile operators to their markets to increase competition, could create a welcome space for new MVNO agreements across the region.
By Juan Pedro Tomás
Business News Americas
* Polycom to focus on Latin American expansion plan this year - Regional
US telecoms equipment vendor Polycom (Nasdaq: PLCM) expects to increase its presence in Latin America through the expansion of existing offices in the region during the first half of the year and the recuitment of personnel in new markets, the company's marketing manager for the region, Pierre Rodríguez, told BNamericas.
"Many of our employees are teleworkers and we are planning to recruit personnel in new markets across the region during 2010," Rodríguez said.
In Latin America, the crisis impacted the company's sales in its two business divisions in two different ways, according to the executive. "In the voice segment, we were affected by lower sales in companies, mainly in Q1 and Q2. In the third quarter, we sarted to see signs of recovery," he said.
On the other hand, "when there is a crisis, the video market is sometimes benefitted. These crises negatively affect countries' economies but not the video solutions market," Rodríguez added. Reductions in some companies' travel budgets actually boosted sales in the telepresence segment.
The executive also said that government projects in Latin America continue to represent approximately half of the company's regional revenues. The Brazilian, Mexican and Colombian governments are big customers for Polycom, but for 2010, the executive expects the government segment to expand in Brazil and decrease in Mexico. "We know that the Brazilian government will buy during 2010 while in Mexico, the government has already said that it will put the brakes on government purchases," the executive said.
Brazil, Mexico, Chile, Argentina and Colombia are the main markets for Polycom in terms of overall sales, with the five markets accounting for over 70% of the company's revenues in the region, he added.
Polycom provides telepresence and unified collaboration solutions, with strategic partners that include Avaya, Cisco, IBM and Microsoft.
In 2008, the company opened a field office in Buenos Aires, Argentina. It also has an office in São Paulo.
By Juan Pedro Tomás
Business News Americas
* Comba foresees increasing opportunities for wireless solution - Regional
Hong Kong-based wireless solutions provider Comba Telecom Systems foresees several opportunities for its wireless solution for mobile communications in Brazil, Mexico and Chile, Patrik Westfalk, Comba's general manager for the Caribbean and Latin America, told BNamericas.
"There are several big indoor projects coming up in Brazil, there will be more metros coming, a new bidding process is due to come in Q1 for the São Paulo metro, and there will be more expansions with the Rio metro such as the upgrade for 3G systems," he said, noting an expected surge in infrastructure investments over the next five years in preparation for the Olympics and the World Cup.
Brazil's Rio de Janeiro metro recently selected Comba to supply a wireless solution for mobile communications along the metro's network, spanning 33 stations and 42km.
"Also one of the operators in Mexico is thinking of doing a complete coverage system in the Mexico City metro, and I think that in Chile there should be opportunities with VTR and Nextel for the [spectrum they recently won in the] AWS bands," Westfalk said. "At some stage they'll be pretty much forced to [offer improved coverage] on the metro because the other three operators in Chile already have very good coverage."
In South America, Comba does business in Brazil, Chile, Argentina, Colombia and Venezuela. It also has business in "several Caribbean islands, Mexico and one or two countries in Central America," the executive said.
Besides solutions for indoor coverage, the company also supplies antennas for base stations, and in Latin America it works mostly with Movistar and the Telefónica group. Comba also provides repeaters, where it works with both the América Móvil group and the Telefónica group.
With regional operations since 2006, Comba has an office each in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, with a total of 25 employees throughout Latin America, including those that work home office. The region brings in about 5% of Comba's overall sales; in 2008, the company posted HK$2.525bn (currently US$325mn) in worldwide revenues.
Comba's global operations include a manufacturing platform in China, as well as R&D centers in China and the US, with more than 40 offices worldwide.
By Christian Molinari
Business News Americas
* Roundup: Alcatel Lucent-LG, Cantv-IFE, telephone cable theft, Cuba telecoms - Regional
Alcatel-Lucent (NYSE: ALU) and LG Electronics have completed a handoff of an end-to-end data call between Long Term Evolution (LTE) and CDMA mobile networks, the former announced in a statement.
The move was in compliance with the standards established by the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), which defines requirements for mobile broadband networks.
The live handover involved an uninterrupted streaming video session conducted during test drives in the New York metropolitan area over Alcatel-Lucent's end-to-end commercial LTE and CDMA/EV-DO infrastructure using an LG Electronics CDMA/LTE dual mode device.
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Venezuela's state-owned telecoms operator Cantv has signed an inter-institutional cooperation agreement with state controlled rail company IFE, whereby the former will provide consulting and training to the rail company in the areas of IT and telecommunications, Cantv announced in a statement.
At the same time, IFE will allow Cantv to install fiber optic lines parallel to its train tracks. The project will begin with 42km of lines along the Caracas-Cúa route, providing voice and data services, public phones and private lines for commercial centers at each of the stations along the route. It will also provide telecoms services to residents living in the vicinity of the railway.
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Guatemala's economy ministry has issued a decree prohibiting the export of copper and telephone cables, as well as fiber optic lines, with the goal of cutting down on theft, the presidential website reported.
At the same time, the export of other scrap such as steel, titanium, nickel, zinc, tin, magnesium and cobalt can only be done with a special license to be issued by the economy ministry's department of foreign trade administration.
***
Cuba increased its international connectivity by 10% in December alone, despite the US trade embargo and the international financial crisis, Cuban news agency AIN reported.
The increase was thanks to higher capacity from satellite connections, which currently offer total speeds of 379Mbps download and 209Mbps upload.
"This increase, however, is still insufficient for the country's development needs in the information area," said deputy information and communications minister Ramón Linares Torres. "The satellite connection, forced on the country by the US trade embargo policy, slows down connection speeds."
Venezuela's government is currently laying a 1,600km submarine fiber optic cable to connect Cuba, which is expected to enter operations in 2011 and have a capacity of 640 gigabytes.
By Business News Americas staff reporters
* GVT could grow at annual rates of 20-30% in the next 2-3 years - Brazil
Brazilian ISP and telco GVT is expected to continue growing at an annual rate of 20-30% over the next two or three years, said Jean Bernard Levy, the executive president of GVT's new owner, French conglomerate Vivendi.
Levy said that GVT's investment plan for 2010 could be increased to accelerate the company's expansion. The company's board just approved a 850mn-real (US$492mn) investment plan for this year, but "we are thinking about [raising the amount] but we have not yet reached a final decision," the executive said in an interview with Reuters.
The executive added that he sees a very big opportunity in the local pay TV market, since the penetration of this service in Brazil is low compared to other countries. Meanwhile, the possibility of launching mobile telephony services is not at the top of the company's agenda, according to the executive.
Vivendi recently annound that it had increased its stake in GVT by nearly 5%, bringing its share in the company to 85.7%. Vivendi now owns close to 118mn shares out of a total of 137mn.
The French company announced in November it had purchased 37.9% of GVT's outstanding voting shares, with a right to buy another 19.6% of the voting shares through call options.
The price paid for GVT was 56 reais per share, for a total of 7.2bn reais, beating a 7bn-real bid from Telefônica Telesp, the São Paulo-based subsidiary of Spain's Telefónica (NYSE: TEF).
Brazil's securities regulator is investigating Vivendi's purchase of GVT on accusations that the deal was unfair to minority shareholders, but "we acted in line with regulations," Levy was reported as saying.
By Business News Americas staff reporters
* Mobile broadband accounts for 0.2% of total internet connections in South America - Regional
Mobile broadband connections in South America represent 0.2% of total internet connections in the region, according to a study by consultancy Quancast.
Globally, the number of mobile broadband connections grew 148% in 2009 compared to the previous year. Mobile broadband connections worldwide represent 1% of global internet connections compared to 0.4% at end-2008, according to the study.
In other regions such as North America and Oceania, mobile connections account for 1.3% of total internet connections.
According to the study, 69% of devices used to access mobile broadband services in South America are from Apple, followed by Nokia (NYSE: NOK).
By Business News Americas staff reporters
* Govt sets Feb 25 deadline for TI to sell Sofora stake - Argentina
The Argentine government hopes to force European telecoms operator Telecom Italia (NYSE: TI) to sell its stake in Sofora - the holding company controlling Telecom Argentina (NYSE: TEO) - before February 25, local paper La Nación reported, citing a government resolution published in the country's official gazette.
If TI fails to comply with this obligation, the government could name an intervenor for the process, fine the telco or even limit the company's license to operate in the national market.
The resolution also calls on TI to present a report to the government before January 15, outlining the different actions taken by the company to sell the stake.
TI holds a 50% stake in Sofora, while the remaining 50% is owned by Argentina's Grupo Werthein. In September 2009 TI hired Credit Suisse to evaluate the sale of its stake in Sofora.
Several companies have expressed interest in acquiring the stake, according to previous press reports, Argentine antitrust agency CNDC issued a resolution in August obliging TI to sell its stake in Telecom, having determined that Spanish telco Telefónica's indirect stake in TI violates Argentina's antitrust laws.
According to CNDC, competition in the local market is affected since Telefónica already controls Telefónica de Argentina (NYSE: TAR), the other main telco in the country.
By Business News Americas staff reporters
* TIM, Vex sign agreement to offer WiFi services - Brazil
Brazilian mobile telephony operator TIM (NYSE: TSU) signed an agreement with compatriot WiFi network operator Vex to offer WiFi services to the former's postpaid subscribers, local press reported.
With this agreement TIM offers its clients a broadband connectivity alternative that should help prevent overloading of the company's 3G network, according to the report.
TIM's subscribers will be able to contract a daily, weekly, monthly or unlimited WiFi plan.
TIM - fully controlled by European telecoms operator Telecom Italia (NYSE: TI) - said it has put brakes on 3G sales while it improves network capacity for this service.
Vex's network covers 38,000 points in 52 countries, including all Brazilian states.
By Business News Americas staff reporters
* Copaco to invest US$25mn in mobile telephony network - Paraguay
Paraguay's state-owned telecoms operator Copaco expects to invest US$25mn this year to deploy its mobile telephony network, local newspaper Ultima Hora reported.
The operator plans mobile services to be available by the end of 2010, company president Mario Esquivel was reported as saying. Initial coverage will include the country's main cities as well as all department capitals, according to the report.
"Our goal is for this service to be operational in 2010. We are working to achieve this," Esquivel said, adding that during Q1 Copaco plans to open a bidding process to select the company in charge of the network deployment. The winning company will have six months to deploy the base stations across the country, the executive added.
The mobile service will be offered under the Copacel brand.
The executive also said that investment required to achieve nationwide coverage is three times larger than the US$25mn the company will invest this year.
Last year, the operator launched an IP-based telephony service, providing customers with a portable number to make calls from any internet connection worldwide.
By Business News Americas staff reporters
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In-deph interview
* Preparing the network for application enablement
Victor Agnellini
Corporate VP of transformation
Alcatel-Lucent
Regional
http://www.bnamericas.com/interviews/telecommunications/Victor_Agnellini_,Alcatel-Lucent,1/169252598
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Main companies covered in today's news
* TIM Participações S.A.
http://www.bnamericas.com/company-profile/en/TIM_Participacoes_S,A,-TIM_Participacoes/169252598
* Microsoft Corporation
http://www.bnamericas.com/company-profile/en/Microsoft_Corporation-Microsoft/169252598
* Entel PCS Telecomunicaciones S.A.
http://www.bnamericas.com/company-profile/en/Entel_PCS_Telecomunicaciones_S,A,-Entel_PCS/169252598
* Telecomunicaciones Movilnet C.A.
http://www.bnamericas.com/company-profile/en/Telecomunicaciones_Movilnet_C,A,-Movilnet/169252598
* Movistar Venezuela
http://www.bnamericas.com/company-profile/en/Movistar_Venezuela-Movistar_Venezuela/169252598
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