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LatAm: Vivo president calls WhatsApp a pirate; TIM to grow 4G

During Brazil’s recent ABTA show, Vivo President Amos Genish said WhatsApp is a clandestine service as it is not regulated in Brazil and not subject to the same regulations or fiscal duties. By calling the over-the-top player, acquired by Facebook, a “pirate,” Genish was clearly calling out TIM and Claro, two carriers that have zero-rating partnership with WhatsApp. Vivo, which belongs to the Telefónica group, is Brazil’s largest mobile operator and has made clear its position against partnering with OTT players.

In June, America Movil’s Claro mobile unit in Brazil announced a strategy focused on including zero-rating access to Facebook, Twitter and WhatsApp in its prepaid and postpaid packages. TIM, the Telecom Italia unit in Brazil, closed a deal with WhatsApp last year. Under the agreement, TIM Brasil customers who have the postpaid “controle” plan can use WhatsApp without paying for the data consumption used by the OTT service.

TIM bets on 4G TIM2Q15
Rodrigo Abreu, president of TIM Brasil, said during the company’s second quarter conference call that “4G” currently accounts for 20% of its data traffic. TIM counted 3.8 million subscribers using the technology, which could change the carrier’s strategy. Until now, TIM has focused its growth in the prepaid business. Smartphone penetration across its customer base has grown from 39% in Q2 2014 to 59% this year. Over the same period, data traffic increased 32% and data average revenue per user grew by 42%. In Q2, TIM posted an organic net income of R$291 million ($82.7 million), 20% less than the same quarter last year. Check all the quarterly numbers here.

Telefónica results 
Telefónica reported financial results, which showed net profits of 3.693 billion euros ($4 billion) through the first half of the year, double the amount reached in the same period of 2014. The most recent results include the recent acquisition of GVT. Revenue stood at 11.876 billion euros in the second quarter of 2015, a 4.4% year-over-year increase.

Costa Rica
Costa Rica’s telecom market last year generated $1.3 billion in revenues, as reported by telecom regulator Sutel. The market ended 2014 with 7.1 million mobile lines, a penetration of 149%.

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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.