Given that I am currently tweaking the draft agenda for the annual Americas Com conference (this year: Rio de Janeiro, 31 June & 1 July), one of the lead stories in today's Global Mobile Daily is especially useful food for thought. GMD notes that the GSMA is urging Latin American regulators to relax spectrum caps which the Association feels to be hampering the development of mobile broadband services in the region.
According to a study commissioned for the GSMA, spectrum caps in Latin America are among the most restrictive in the world: a maximum of 40MHz is allowed per operator in Colombia, 50 MHz in Argentina, 60 MHz in Chile, 65 MHz in Mexico and 80 MHz in Brazil. This compared with over 300 MHz of spectrum available in most North American and European markets. Assuming this continues to be an inhibiting factor for the region's MNOs, I daresay it will be a major topic for discussion at the conference. I will encourage colleagues to consult with the good folks at 3G Americas in order to get a sense of how much discussion time is merited by this particular issues. At the event, 3G Americas President Chris Pearson will lead the usual Executive Briefing his organisation has traditionally offered to delegates.
Showing posts with label Argentina. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Argentina. Show all posts
27 Oct 2008
Positive numbers from LatAm iDEN group
In a recent post on the prospects for MVNOs in Latin America, I mentioned in passing NII Holdings, whose Nextel-branded operations offer mobile services over iDEN networks in Chile, Mexico, Peru, Argentina and Brazil. I found myself reminiscing about trips to the last two of these countries and observing almost every cab driver I'd encountered using the Push-t0-Talk functionality of their Nextel handsets.
Last week, I was joined here in London by a colleague from our sister company in Sao Paolo, whose team will be more closely involved than in previous years in the research leading to the creation of the conference agenda for our annual Americas Com event in Rio de Janeiro. My Brazilian colleague told me about friends with small businesses, all of whose staff stay in touch via the Nextel PoC (Push-to-Talk over Cellular) service. Her impression, based just on this anecdotal evidence, was of good growth for the iDEN network operator.
I was therefore not too surprised to see pick up on very positive noises coming out of NII Holdings HQ, picked up late last week by a Cellular News story, according to which the company "has reported that for the third quarter, the Company added 394,500 net subscribers, matching the company's quarterly record of net subscriber additions set in the second quarter of 2008, resulting in an ending subscriber base of over 5.8 million subscribers, a 33% increase over the subscriber base reported at the end of the third quarter of 2007."
We usually see a smattering of delegates from the various Nextel operators at Americas Com. At the most recent event, I ran into some folks from the Peruvian operation. We will certainly be inviting the company to share some useful insights at the 2009 conference.
Last week, I was joined here in London by a colleague from our sister company in Sao Paolo, whose team will be more closely involved than in previous years in the research leading to the creation of the conference agenda for our annual Americas Com event in Rio de Janeiro. My Brazilian colleague told me about friends with small businesses, all of whose staff stay in touch via the Nextel PoC (Push-to-Talk over Cellular) service. Her impression, based just on this anecdotal evidence, was of good growth for the iDEN network operator.
I was therefore not too surprised to see pick up on very positive noises coming out of NII Holdings HQ, picked up late last week by a Cellular News story, according to which the company "has reported that for the third quarter, the Company added 394,500 net subscribers, matching the company's quarterly record of net subscriber additions set in the second quarter of 2008, resulting in an ending subscriber base of over 5.8 million subscribers, a 33% increase over the subscriber base reported at the end of the third quarter of 2007."
We usually see a smattering of delegates from the various Nextel operators at Americas Com. At the most recent event, I ran into some folks from the Peruvian operation. We will certainly be inviting the company to share some useful insights at the 2009 conference.
2 Sept 2008
Mixed news from Chilean mobile market ahead of Americas Com conference
South American telecoms markets are naturally on my mind as I prepare to head for Rio de Janeiro on Saturday afternoon, heading out early to prepare for our two day Americas Com conference and exhibition on 9-10 September.
So the item of commentary which caught my eye first this morning was an outline of a new BuddeCom report which indicates that Chile is no longer the leading South American market in terms of of mobile penetration, having been overtaken by Argentina and Uruguay. A more positive aspect of the Chilean mobile market, according to the report, is a boost in ARPU, attributed by the author to expanding data services and a growth in the perecentage of subscribers on post-paid plans.
As further markets deploy 3G networks and roll out commercial mobile broadband services in earnest, delegates at next week's conference may look to the Chilean example for guidance. I'd like to remind all telecoms opeator readers once again - attendance at Americas Com is free of charge for you, so do please register online if you can make it to Rio next week:
www.ComWorldSeries.com/americas
So the item of commentary which caught my eye first this morning was an outline of a new BuddeCom report which indicates that Chile is no longer the leading South American market in terms of of mobile penetration, having been overtaken by Argentina and Uruguay. A more positive aspect of the Chilean mobile market, according to the report, is a boost in ARPU, attributed by the author to expanding data services and a growth in the perecentage of subscribers on post-paid plans.
As further markets deploy 3G networks and roll out commercial mobile broadband services in earnest, delegates at next week's conference may look to the Chilean example for guidance. I'd like to remind all telecoms opeator readers once again - attendance at Americas Com is free of charge for you, so do please register online if you can make it to Rio next week:
www.ComWorldSeries.com/americas
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