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LatAm Wrap-Up: Movistar Peru to launch LTE; smartphones to reach 154.7 million units in 2017

LTE services are growing across Latin America. Following launches in other countries, Movistar Peru announced it will commercially launch its LTE services on Jan. 2. The service will initially be available in seven districts within the Lima region. Movistar Peru named its LTE service “Vuela.” The telco plans to invest about $1.5 billion in infrastructure over the next three years.

In Brazil, Oi and Vivo continued to expand LTE services. Oi launched LTE services in the country’s biggest city: São Paulo. According to the rules of telecom regulator Anatel, carriers have until Dec. 31 to launch LTE in São Paulo. Oi noted that its coverage reaches 73% of the city’s urban area. In addition, Oi announced that it is launching LTE in Curitiba, capital of the state of Paraná.

Vivo, the Brazilian unit of Spanish Telefónica, increased its LTE coverage to 73 cities, reaching a potential market of 56 million people.

Smartphones: The Latin American region is expected to ship 154.7 million smartphone units by 2017, accounting for 9.2% of the global market, according to a recently published mobile phone forecast from IDC. The Asia/Pacific region will lead the market with 58.5%. According to IDC, worldwide smartphone shipments are expected to surpass one billion units in 2013, representing a 39.3% growth over 2012. From a volume perspective, emerging markets including the Asia/Pacific region, Latin America, and the Middle East and Africa will all post market-beating growth rates from 2013 to 2017. The average selling price of smartphones in Latin America could decrease from $288 in 2013 to $246 in 2017.

Below expectations: AMD has not reached its growth goals in Brazil or Latin America. The semiconductor company expected to close 2013 with an increase of about 25% to 30% in revenue, but it could end the year below that number. As Ronaldo Miranda, AMD’s VP for Latin America, explained to RCR Wireless News, growth could be 10% in Brazil and across Latin America. The less than expected growth is due to PC consumers buying fewer units than projected. Miranda noted that Mexico had a very good year and is number two in Latin America, behind Brazil. On the opposite side, Argentina, which used to be No. 2, fell to the No. 4 position — Colombia is No. 3, Peru No. 5, and Chile No. 6.

Looking ahead, Miranda explained that AMD will not focus on what everybody else is doing but work to better understand consumers’ needs and deliver what they want. Miranda said that the smartphone and tablet markets are consolidating. AMD is looking at other industries as well such as games and auto-mobility. By 2015, half of the company’s total global revenue will come from other areas outside of the PC industry.

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Roberta Prescott
Roberta Prescott
Editor, [email protected] Roberta Prescott is responsible for Latin America reporting news and analysis, interviewing key stakeholders. Roberta has worked as an IT and telecommunication journalist since March 2005, when she started as a reporter with InformationWeek Brasil magazine and its website IT Web. In July 2006, Prescott was promoted to be the editor-in-chief, and, beyond the magazine and website, was in charge for all ICT products, such as IT events and CIO awards. In mid-2010, she was promoted to the position of executive editor, with responsibility for all the editorial products and content of IT Mídia. Prescott has worked as a journalist since 1998 and has three journalism prizes. In 2009, she won, along with InformationWeek Brasil team, the press prize 11th Prêmio Imprensa Embratel. In 2008, she won the 7th Unisys Journalism Prize and in 2006 was the editor-in-chief when InformationWeek Brasil won the 20th media award Prêmio Veículos de Comunicação. She graduated in Journalism by the Pontifícia Universidade Católica de Campinas, has done specialization in journalism at the Universidad de Navarra (Spain, 2003) and Master in Journalism at IICS – Universidad de Navarra (Brazil, 2010) and MBA – Executive Education at the Getulio Vargas Foundation.