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Thursday, January 14, 2010
Today's News Headlines
* Supercanal plans to launch triple play in at least 7 cities this year - Argentina
* Local unicast mobile TV market expected to move US$700mn in 2009-14 - Brazil
* Communications, call center and IT markets move US$13.7bn in 2009 - Argentina
* Sutel to report on telecoms sector ahead of auction - Costa Rica
* Digicel's network damaged but operational following earthquake - Haiti
* Claro to deploy Amdocs platform - Brazil
* Search begins for satellite terrestrial base stations - Bolivia
* Appeal lodged against CNDC, Telecom Italia ruling - Argentina
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* Supercanal plans to launch triple play in at least 7 cities this year - Argentina
Argentine cable TV provider Supercanal expects to launch triple play services in at least seven cities across the country, company commercial manager Leandro Lagos told BNamericas.
Among the cities where the operator is studying to launch triple play are Comodoro Rivadavia in Chubut province and Viedma in Río Negro province, the executive said.
The company currently offers triple play services in the provinces of Mendoza, San Juan, Tucumán and Santa Fé, and "our strategy in the triple play segment is to offer this service in all cities where we have presence," Lagos said.
The operator currently has approximately 450,000 pay TV clients nationwide. In the triple play segment, Supercanal currently has 5,000 clients.
The company, which is in the process of digitalizing its network, currently has approximately 10,000 clients for its digital TV service. Supercanal already offers digital services in Mendoza and expects to launch the service in the provinces of San Juan and Santiago del Estero in the short term. By the end of the year, the company expects to end with approximately 30,000 digital TV clients nationwide, Lagos added.
Mendoza-based Supercanal currently has operations in Tucumán, Catamarca, Santiago del Estero, Santa Fe, La Rioja, San Juan, Córdoba, San Luis, Neuquén, Río Negro, Chubut, Santa Cruz and Tierra del Fuego provinces.
By Juan Pedro Tomás
Business News Americas
* Local unicast mobile TV market expected to move US$700mn in 2009-14 - Brazil
Accumulated revenues from mobile TV services in Brazil for 2009-14 are expected to reach US$700mn, according to a study by telecoms consultancy Signals.
The Brazilian market is expected to account for 42% of Latin America's mobile TV services market during the period.
According to Signals, the renewal of mobile phones and the increasing penetration of smartphones in Brazil will contribute with the expansion of mobile TV services.
"The Brazilian market is by far the most competitive market. Four out of nine mobile operators offering mobile TV services over 3G technology in Latin America are in Brazil," Signals analyst Elías Vicente said. Mobile operators Claro, Vivo, Oi and TIM offer mobile TV service.
Vicente said that the deployment of 3G networks enabled operators to expand the offering of unicast mobile TV services.
According to the analyst, the evolution of the Ginga platform - associated with Brazilian digital TV standard ISDB - will be a key element in the evolution of mobile TV in the country. "The success of Ginga will position Brazil as a technological leader in this segment, opening big business opportunities for Brazilian companies in other markets in Latin America," he said.
Vicente told BNamericas that operators should offer mobile devices embedded with the Ginga platform, which enables the operator to take advantage of the ISDB network.
"However, operators are free to select any other broadcasting network to provide mobile TV," Vicente added. Operators could also opt to deploy other systems to broadcast mobile TV such as MediaFLO, a technology developed by Qualcomm to transmit data to portable devices such as cell phones and PDAs, used for mobile TV.
"If operators use the ISDB network they don't need to deploy their own broadcasting networks," the analyst added.
By Juan Pedro Tomás
Business News Americas
* Communications, call center and IT markets move US$13.7bn in 2009 - Argentina
The communications, call center and information technology markets in Argentina generated revenues of 52bn pesos (US$13.7bn) last year, an increase of 13.2% compared to 2008, according to a study by consultancy Prince & Cooke.
The consultancy firm expects the overall market to expand 15-18% this year compared to 2009.
The growth engine was telecommunications, which generated revenues of 33bn pesos last year.
Mobile telephony held the most weight within the telecoms sector, according to Prince & Cooke, representing 52.7% of telecommunications, or 17.4bn pesos, followed by fixed telephony, with 6.98bn pesos. The study found that mobile phones at the end of the year amounted to 36mn active lines.
In the IT market, hardware accounted for 45% of total revenues, followed by services and software.
The call center segment generated revenues of 1.8bn pesos, surging 9.1% year-on-year.
Meanwhile, PC sales totaled 2.3mn last year in the country while internet users totaled 23mn. Internet connections reached 4.3mn at end-2009 compared to 3.7mn at end-2008.
"There are signs that show that the economy is recovering from the crisis. However, the current political scenario in Argentina is not contributing to market stability, or aiding in investor confidence. We estimate that the communications and the IT markets could grow approximately 15% this year in terms of revenues compared to 2009," Prince told BNamericas.
"The call center market will also continue growing if the government is able to maintain the current exchange rate with the US dollar," he said.
Prince added that the mobile telephony and broadband segments, which led growth in the telecoms sector in recent years, will grow at lower rates due to high penetration of these services. In the broadband segment, operators will need to start penetrating lower-income segments in order to continue expanding.
By Juan Pedro Tomás
Business News Americas
* Sutel to report on telecoms sector ahead of auction - Costa Rica
Costa Rica's telecoms watchdog Sutel will present a report on January 18 on the state of the telecommunications sector and conditions for an upcoming tender for mobile spectrum, according to utilities regulator Aresep.
Of the 160MHz available, 60MHz belongs to state-owned telco ICE and the remaining 100MHz will be up for grabs in three bands - 850MHz, 1800MHz and 2100MHz.
A document with terms and conditions is available for viewing at this link (http://www.aresep.go.cr/cgi-bin/index.fwx?area=04&cmd=servicios&id=8302)
Costa Rica is due to be one of the last countries in Latin America and the Caribbean to liberalize its mobile telephony market as part of the Central America and Dominican Republic free trade agreement with the US (Cafta-DR).
Central American/Caribbean operators Digicel, Cable & Wireless and Millicom (Nasdaq: MICC), as well as América Móvil (NYSE: AMX) and Telefónica (NYSE: TEF), have all expressed interest in entering the market.
By Business News Americas staff reporters
* Digicel's network damaged but operational following earthquake - Haiti
Caribbean mobile operator Digicel's Haiti network suffered some damage but is operational following the 7.0 earthquake that struck the country on Tuesday (Jan 12), Digicel said in a statement.
"That said, due to the unprecedented amount of people trying to contact friends and family in Haiti, we have been experiencing - and continue to experience - extensive congestion," the statement read.
The Irish-owned operator also said two of its 900 employees had been killed in the earthquake.
The company said it has sent a team of technical experts to Haiti to assess the situation and evaluate what support is needed in terms of network equipment and emergency aid.
Digicel announced a donation of US$5mn to go to NGOs in Haiti to support the relief effort. It is also launching donation lines for the public to donate to the people of Haiti, supported with a press, radio and TV appeal campaign.
By Business News Americas staff reporters
* Claro to deploy Amdocs platform - Brazil
Brazilian mobile operator Claro will deploy Amdocs' (NYSE: DOX) support customer ordering, sales force automation, e-commerce and web self-service solutions, Amdocs said in a statement.
According to Amdocs, its products will support all of Claro Brasil's current sales channels, including call centers, dealerships and kiosks.
Claro - a unit of Mexican mobile giant America Movil (NYSE: AMX) - plans to introduce e-commerce as a new service, thereby extending its sales channel and increasing potential revenue opportunities, the statement read.
Having one centralized system to manage and update will bring about efficiencies, reduce errors and operational costs, Amdocs said.
"Amdocs solutions deliver the complete picture of sales, ordering and after-sales service across all channels and can enable Claro Brasil to deliver the new, advanced services that customers want more quickly, consistently and efficiently. Our customers will also enjoy improved convenience and control through the new e-commerce and web self-service offerings," Claro Brasil's chief information officer Ricardo Santoro said.
By Business News Americas staff reporters
* Search begins for satellite terrestrial base stations - Bolivia
Bolivia's government and a mission of Chinese technical experts will initiate the joint search for locations to install terrestrial base stations for receiving and controlling signals from a satellite the Bolivian government seeks to build, state news agency ABN reported.
The move is part of a series of negotiations that are being carried out between the governments of the two countries to hammer out technical, financial and commercial and academic details of the US$300mn satellite the Chinese are building for the South American nation.
According to Bolivia's deputy telecommunications minister Roque Roy, the authorities are looking for two terrestrial locations.
Locations under study are La Guardia in the Santa Cruz department; Tiwanaku, which is close to capital La Paz; and La Paz itself, according to planning minister Noel Aguirre.
The Chinese delegation is made up of 18 members and will be in Bolivia until January 15. There are representatives from the company that will manufacture the satellite - Great Wall Corporation - as well as from the Chinese space technology academy and companies Cltc Cresda and Chinasatcom.
The experts will discuss with Bolivian authorities what they plan to use the satellite for. The government is likely to employ the satellite for helping provide communications to remote areas of Bolivia.
The satellite - dubbed Túpac Katari in honor of an indigenous leader who rebelled against the Spanish colonizers in the 18th century - is due to go into orbit in 2013.
By Business News Americas staff reporters
* Appeal lodged against CNDC, Telecom Italia ruling - Argentina
Telco, the consortium which controls Telecom Italia (TI) and led by Spain's Telefónica (NYSE: TEF), has appealed against the Argentine anti-trust body CNDC's order for TI to sell its 50% stake in Sofora, a holding that controls Telecom Argentina (NYSE: TEO), daily El Cronista reported.
The CNDC ordered TI last August to sell on the grounds that Telefónica's indirect stake in TI violates Argentina's antitrust laws, given that Telefónica controls Telecom Argentina's biggest rival Telefonica de Argentina (NYSE: TAR).
The companies that make up Telco are Telefónica, Mediobanca, Sintonia, Generali and Intesa.
Last week the government published in the official gazette that it was giving TI until February 25 to sell its stake in Sofora. Otherwise, it would step in and take action against the telco, with threats ranging from fines to the cancellation of the concession contract.
TI holds a 50% stake in Sofora, while the remaining 50% is owned by Argentina's Grupo Werthein.
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,1/169883829
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Main companies covered in today's news
* Secretaria de Comunicaciones y Transportes
http://www.bnamericas.com/company-profile/en/Secretaria_de_Comunicaciones_y_Transportes-SCT_Mexico/169883829
* Telecom Americas
http://www.bnamericas.com/company-profile/en/Telecom_Americas-Claro_Brasil/169883829
* TIM Participações S.A.
http://www.bnamericas.com/company-profile/en/TIM_Participacoes_S,A,-TIM_Participacoes/169883829
* Autoridad Reguladora de los Servicios Públicos
http://www.bnamericas.com/company-profile/en/Autoridad_Reguladora_de_los_Servicios_Publicos-Aresep/169883829
* GVT Holding S.A.
http://www.bnamericas.com/company-profile/en/GVT_Holding_S,A,-GVT_Brasil/169883829
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