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Thursday, January 21, 2010
Today's News Headlines
* Bucking trend, fixed line segment continues positive growth - Venezuela
* Consumer mobility to be driven by netbook, notebook purchases and refresh - Intel - Regional
* Chile's mobile sector grows 59.8% in 2004-08 - Regional
* Amdocs launches new portfolio, to kick off CALA roadshow - Regional
* Mobile lines reach 174mn end-2009 - Brazil
* Double, triple play segments affected by regulatory obstacles, finds study - Argentina
* Centennial offers Novatel's mobile hotspot solution - Puerto Rico
* Telefónica shows interest in ETB stake - Colombia
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* Bucking trend, fixed line segment continues positive growth - Venezuela
Venezuela is one of the few markets in Latin America which continues to experience positive growth in the fixed telephony segment quarter by quarter, Signals Telecom Consulting president José Otero told BNamericas.
Since the nationalization of telco Cantv, the main goal has been to expand fixed telephony services across the country. "To achieve this, the company implemented a social tariff, which is a discount of approximately 10-15% to 1.5mn homes within the lower-income segment," Otero said.
Some 85% of homes in Venezuela had fixed telephony services by end-2009, Cantv said in a statement.
President Hugo Chávez said fixed penetration in homes increased 30 percentage points since the nationalization of Cantv in May 2007.
Chávez added that prior to the nationalization, the company, which was controlled by US telco Verizon (NYSE: VZ), did not invest to expand fixed telephony because this segment was not profitable.
Otero also said Cantv boosted fixed services through other technologies such as wireless and wireline technologies. "The 85% figure mentioned by Cantv may position Venezuela as one of the countries with the highest fixed telephony penetration in homes globally," Otero said. "However, it's important to highlight that not all fixed lines are used in homes. Approximately 30-40% of total fixed lines are used in other places such as businesses, public institutions and churches, among others."
There are also homes that could have more than one fixed line, which pushes up penetration measurements.
President Chávez added that Cantv has deployed 1,302 satellite aerials across the country to connect to the Simón Bolívar satellite, which has been operated by the telco since January 10 last year. In Venezuela, the Simón Bolívar spacecraft enables the provision of telephony, high-speed internet and TV services in isolated areas.
According to previous press reports, Cantv plans to triple the extension of the nation's current fiber optic network within the next three years.
By Juan Pedro Tomás
Business News Americas
* Consumer mobility to be driven by netbook, notebook purchases and refresh - Intel - Regional
US chip manufacturer Intel (NYSE: INTC) believes that Latin America's consumer mobility segment will be driven this year by both netbooks and notebooks, Jesus Maximoff, Intel's general director for Latin America, told BNamericas.
"Latin America has been slightly behind the rest of the world in terms of the shift to mobility, but that shift accelerated in 2009, driven by netbooks as well as full blown notebooks. If you look at netbooks as a companion device, first time users rapidly move up to a larger screen," he said. "So we're not looking at the region as only bringing new uses of internet - internet growth is the engine of our business. We're also looking at what happened in the last 3-4 years with the boom of PCs in the region."
At the same time, "In terms of new products, Latin America will not be an exception when it comes to business. We're taking the architecture deeply embedded, into consumer electronics and handheld. And we don't think Latin America will fall behind."
"We entered the 32 nanometer arena with a launch at CES [Consumer Electronics Show, held in Las Vegas on Jan 7-10]. That's going to bring the ability to take the core family, our best products today, and take them from the top of the performance to entry level, it's the first time we've done this," Maximoff added. "This shift will bring advantages to the market, bringing the most sophisticated family of processors with intelligent capabilities."
The executive believes that both first time buyers and existing notebook users refreshing the technology will be the drivers this year. In the consumer segment last year, users shrugged off the international financial crisis, even in Mexico, and Intel believes it will see flat growth compared to 2008, "which is remarkable," Maximoff said. That is due to continue into 2010, and businesses are also due to refresh technology this year.
By Christian Molinari
Business News Americas
* Chile's mobile sector grows 59.8% in 2004-08 - Regional
Chile saw a 59.8% increase in mobile telephony from 2004-08 and was among the top four Latin American countries in terms of telephony lines in service along with Venezuela, Argentina and Uruguay, Spanish consultancy everis said, quoting numbers from the International Telecoms Union (ITU).
In the region, fixed lines grew 15% while both fixed and mobile lines grew 120% over the period.
The ITU study included 49 countries worldwide, accounting for three quarters of the world's population and almost 95% of its GDP.
Uruguay, Peru and Colombia saw the largest leap in telecommunications lines from 2004-08 with respective annual increases of 55.5%, 50.4% and 41.2%.
Uruguay in particular stands out as having the highest penetration of fixed lines at 28.6%, followed by Argentina with 24.1%, Venezuela 22.4% and Chile 21%, according to the study.
Peru, Bolivia and Paraguay, on the other hand, had low fixed line penetration rates at 10.2%, 7.1% and 5.8%.
The consultancy's telecommunications director Javier Ruiz told BNamericas that Uruguay has traditionally been a leader in fixed line telecoms in the region with strong public investment policies pushed by state controlled incumbent Antel.
"The adoption of technology in Uruguay, not only of telephony, is one of the highest in the region," Ruiz said.
GDP VERSUS MOBILE PENETRATION
One of everis' conclusions from the ITU study was that high mobile penetration is not necessarily firmly related to per capita income. For example, Paraguay has a relatively low per capita income but had a higher mobile penetration rate (92.8%) than the US (87.6%), which has a much higher per capita income rate. The same went for Chile (88.1%) and Colombia (88.5%).
"Paraguay undoubtedly has seen very high growth in mobile telephony, covering a gap that fixed line telephony has not covered," Ruiz said.
As such, many emerging markets will reach a 100% mobile penetration rate before some developed countries.
However, that does not necessarily mean that fixed lines are not growing. Fixed telephony has been given a new life with the growth of ADSL broadband.
In 2008, Venezuela saw a 21.3% increase in fixed lines, Peru grew 7.7%, Chile 6%, Ecuador 4.8% and Brazil 4.4%. On the other hand, Colombia saw a 14.1% drop and Paraguay an 8% drop.
By Patrick Nixon
Business News Americas
* Amdocs launches new portfolio, to kick off CALA roadshow - Regional
US customer management solutions provider Amdocs (NYSE: DOX) has launched its CES 8 portfolio, the company said in a statement.
Company marketing manager for Latin America and the Caribbean, Manuel Briseño, told BNamericas the new portfolio is now available in all Latin American markets.
The executive also said Amdocs will conduct a roadshow to showcase the new product in Mexico, Brazil and Argentina in the short term.
"CES 8 is designed to enable service providers to run leaner today while preparing them to lead in the connected world, where it's predicted that by 2017 more than 7 trillion devices will require support, bandwidth and new business models," Amdocs said.
The solution offers services providers the possibility to improve network planning with mobile backhaul capacity management. This pre-packaged solution provides the mobile network planning and design tools required to address the specific needs of 3G and 4G/LTE Radio Access Networks, the company said.
The new portfolio also enhances product lifecycle management, reduces hardware and maintenance costs and maximizes network and IT utilization, among other features.
Briseño said existing customers could upgrade previous solutions to this new portfolio without needing to fully deploy the new suite.
In Latin America, Amdocs has field offices in Brazil, Mexico and Costa Rica. In Brazil, the company also has a development center that provides technical support to the company's operations in the region.
Amdocs serves customers in more than 60 countries worldwide.
By Juan Pedro Tomás
Business News Americas
* Mobile lines reach 174mn end-2009 - Brazil
Brazil added some 4.2mn mobile lines in December, bringing the total number of mobile subscribers to nearly 174mn, according to telecoms regulator Anatel.
The country added 23.3mn lines in 2009, compared to 29.6mn in 2008.
According to Anatel, close to 144mn mobile lines - representing 82.5% of the total - are prepaid lines. The remaining 30.4mn are postpaid. GSM technology accounted for 90% of total lines, followed by CDMA with 4.8%.
Penetration of mobile telephony reached 90.5% nationwide by year-end. According to international consultancy Frost & Sullivan research analyst Bruno Baptistão Neto, mobile telephony will continue expanding during 2010 and could reach an overall penetration of approximately 98%.
The analyst told BNamericas that current Arpu for mobile telephony services in Brasil is US$15.
Mobile operator Vivo (NYSE: VIV) continues to lead the market with a share of 29.7%, followed by Claro with 25.5%, TIM (NYSE: TSU) with 23.6% and Oi (NYSE: TNE) with 20.7%.
By Juan Pedro Tomás
Business News Americas
* Double, triple play segments affected by regulatory obstacles, finds study - Argentina
Double play connections in Argentina are forecasted to grow at a CAGR of 3.2% during the 2009-14 period, according to a study by Pyramid Research.
The study also states that triple-play connections are expected to expand nine-fold over the same period.
Pyramid Research analyst Luis Portela said that triple play connections could expand even faster if telcos and cable operators manage to find an agreement with the regulator on the triple play issue. Current regulations do not allow telcos to offer broadcasting services.
"The high pay-TV penetration in Argentina would make it ripe for multiplay offerings. However, regulations preventing operators from offering IPTV and VoIP services mean that the Argentinean multiplay market is not as developed as it could be," Portela added.
Portela said mobile penetration in Argentina reached 120% at end-2009, while penetration in the pay TV service was 64%.
In the 3G segment, the analyst said mobile broadband has a lot of room to continue growing in the local market. "Mobile operators are increasingly focusing on this application as the killer application for their 3G network, translating into an estimated 59% CAGR over the forecast period, to reach US$343mn by 2014," said Portela.
"With mobile operators competing for 3G value-added services, near-term mobile Capex spending will be driven mainly by continuous network expansion, capacity increases and upgrades to new technologies, such as mobile broadband technologies. Also, if the regulator allows telecom companies to offer pay-TV services, opportunities in IPTV may arise with Telecom and Telefónica," the analyst added.
By Business News Americas staff reporters
* Centennial offers Novatel's mobile hotspot solution - Puerto Rico
Centennial Wireless has begun offering Novatel Wireless' (Nasdaq: NVTL) mobile hotspot solution in Puerto Rico, the companies said in a joint statement.
Novatel's MiFi 2200 intelligent mobile hotspot creates a cloud of internet connectivity that can be shared by up to five Wi-Fi enabled devices such as laptops, MIDs, smartphones and gaming devices.
Among the features of the MiFi 2200 is GPS functionality, a rechargeable lithium ion battery that lasts up to four hours, auto-install and auto-connectivity, 30-foot range of network coverage and built-in security.
Centennial, which serves Puerto Rico, the US and the US Virgin Islands, was acquired by AT&T (NYSE: T) last year.
The carrier has approximately 1.1mn wireless subscribers and 694,900 internet access lines.
Headquartered in San Diego, California, Novatel delivers specialized wireless solutions to carriers, distributors, OEMs and vertical markets.
By Business News Americas staff reporters
* Telefónica shows interest in ETB stake - Colombia
The Colombian unit of Spanish telecoms giant Telefónica (NYSE: TEF) is interested in acquiring a controlling stake in local telecoms operator ETB, newspaper La República reported Telefónica Colombia CEO Alfonso Gómez as saying.
The executive said the company is in the process of analyzing whether to buy the stake in ETB. Gómez added that Telefónica also has interest in the telecoms unit of state-owned utility Emcali.
"We'll see how these two processes evolve to make a decision," the executive was reported as saying.
The Bogotá municipality currently holds 86.59% of ETB, while minority shareholders have the remaining 13.41%. ETB needs a partner to bring in more capital in order to better compete in the increasingly competitive telecoms market. The telco plans to sell new shares, equivalent to a 36.6% stake.
According to previous press reports, ETB expects to select its strategic partner in April.
By Business News Americas staff reporters
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In-deph interview
* Cloud-based communications solutions
Tim Marsden
Chief technologist, CMS division
HP
Regional
http://www.bnamericas.com/interviews/telecommunications/Tim_Marsden_,HP,/170884322
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Main companies covered in today's news
* Banco de Chile S.A.
http://www.bnamericas.com/company-profile/en/Banco_de_Chile_S,A,-Banco_de_Chile/170884322
* TIM Participações S.A.
http://www.bnamericas.com/company-profile/en/TIM_Participacoes_S,A,-TIM_Participacoes/170884322
* Global Crossing Ltd.
http://www.bnamericas.com/company-profile/en/Global_Crossing_Ltd,-Global_Crossing/170884322
* Telecom Americas
http://www.bnamericas.com/company-profile/en/Telecom_Americas-Claro_Brasil/170884322
* Empresas Municipales de Cali
http://www.bnamericas.com/company-profile/en/Empresas_Municipales_de_Cali-Emcali/170884322
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