YOU ARE AT:AmericasLatAm: Study – AWS spectrum use to have $53B impact in region

LatAm: Study – AWS spectrum use to have $53B impact in region

The use of the AWS spectrum band (1700/2100 MHz) for LTE mobile services in Latin America is expected to have a huge positive economic impact, according to a recently released study by GSMA. The report also found that the spectrum band is key to extending existing “4G” deployments, ensuring economies of scale and seamless connectivity across the region. Currently, 12 countries in the Americas have licensed a portion or all of the AWS spectrum band. The GSMA study found that the total economic benefit of licensing the band in Latin American countries will be worth over $53 billion. The direct impact would be almost $30 billion from investments while the value chain dynamics of the mobile industry and growth in gross domestic product has an indirect impact of $23 billion, benefiting other industry sectors and productivity.IQ_Conectividad In an interview with RCR Wireless News, Sebastian Cabello, director of GSMA for Latin America, said that the three major spectrum bands (700 MHz, AWS and 2.6 GHz) will coexist; however, in the short term, AWS and 2.6 GHz might dominate, but 700 MHz will be the most important band in the long term. “Cities need both, the high and the low frequency. The 700 MHz offers a seamless connectivity, and it’s better when it’s difficult to install more antennas, while higher bands are used to meet heavy data traffic,” Cabello said. New lab, World Cup preparation: Alcatel-Lucent held a press conference in Brazil to announce the launch of its laboratory for testing and certification of transport Internet-protocol networks. The work of the lab is focused on meeting the data traffic increase that carriers are facing. The company has invested $4 million to set up the first phase of the lab. The second phase which will focus on IP routing will be launched later this year. The facility is located in the Alcatel-Lucent’s Latin American headquarters in São Paulo, and it is expected to serve clients from the region. In addition, Javier Falcon, Alcatel-Lucent’s president for Brazil, unveiled plans for a task force to help meet operators’ needs during the FIFA World Cup, which begins on June 12. Additional technical staff are flying to Brazil to join the local team to provide support for carriers. Falcon said telcos are expecting a huge increase in data traffic. Alcatel-Lucent won distributed antenna system and Wi-Fi projects in the stadiums of Rio de Janeiro, Cuiabá and Natal. More news from Latin America:

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ABOUT AUTHOR

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.